


Behind The Lights

by Tomlinsontoes



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Showbusiness, Blow Jobs, Fingering, Fluff, Kissing, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Pining, Riding, Rimming, Rutting, Sexting, Smut, Top Harry, Top Louis, basically a Maid in Manhattan AU, harry is a popstar, lying, partners in crime, zouis dream team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-14 16:35:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 61,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2199051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomlinsontoes/pseuds/Tomlinsontoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by Maid in Manhattan, but not the same at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Fuck..." Louis grumbles as the pounding on his door gets louder. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes since he went to sleep, surely it wasn't morning just yet. But as he started to come to, he could faintly feel the heat of the sun on his face and neck as he tried his best to roll out of the offending light.

"Wake up princess," Zayn's voice bellows from the doorway and it's only a matter of seconds until he's invading Louis' space. He's pretty sure it's in violation of number four on their roommate contract, between, 'don't eat my food' and 'advanced warning required for sexual activities in the apartment.' "Time for work, time for work," Zayn sings as he repeatedly punches Louis in the arm and stomach.

"Five more minutes...please," Louis begs as he attempts to roll out of the punch zone, failing when his comforter slides down his chest and exposes his skin to Zayn's fists. "Ow, okay, okay, get off of me." Louis shoves Zayn enough so he can slide toward the edge of his bed and put his feet on the ground. He hated mornings, even though he's lived through approximately 8,700 of them, they were still the worst, but at least he wasn't hungover.

"Can't be late or the boss'll fire us, heard he's a dick," Zayn says standing up and kicking Louis' shoes to his bare feet.

"I'm the boss you ass, and yeah I'll fire you next time you wake me up like that," Louis says throwing his dirty shirt from last night at his friend. "Hand me my polo please."

"No shower first? Gross." Zayn says turning toward a stack of clothes on Louis' desk chair. He's been meaning to put them away, but he's just been busy. Not like anyone else goes in his room beside him or Zayn, so there's really no need to tidy up. Zayn tosses him the black shirt with the small embroidery on the left breast and Louis pulls it over his messy hair and grabs yesterday's jeans and pulls them on.

They eat a quick breakfast before heading out into the early N.Y.C. morning. The city is already wide awake with honking cabs and well-dressed commuters making their way to their 49th floor office job where they'll sit for eight hours squinting at numbers on a screen. Louis grabs a coffee from the Dunkin' Donuts on the corner and slides into the passenger seat of their black and white van.

"Tribeca this morning, Zayney boy," Louis says as he plugs his iPod into the stereo and Zayn pulls out onto the street. "Mr. Martin's up first then we'll make our way over to lovely Miss Hathaway's," he says sarcastically. 

"Can we just poison her cat, once, hate that little shit," Zayn says as he runs a red light.

"I'm in no position to go to jail, you know what they'd do to me in there," Louis says settling on a playlist and sipping his coffee while he stares out the window.

It's been about two years since Louis and Zayn started their cleaning business, they had only meant to have it to earn extra funds to afford concert tickets and beer while studying at NYU. Now, it somehow turned into the most profitable and successful thing Louis has ever done. Not to mention in under a year, they went from cleaning their hipster neighbors' 200 square foot studios to the 3,000 square foot penthouses of the rich and famous— top of their cliental list was none other than the frontman of the very band they scrounged up money to see— funny how things work.

"Morning Charlie," Louis says to the man behind the front desk of their first appointment, "I believe we have access to the penthouse?" He asks handing over their IDs while Zayn stands near an elevator with their supplies. Charlie looks at his computer screen then nods and motions to another man who swipes a keycard against a light blue rectangle on the elevator. Within seconds it dings and the doors open for the pair and they step in and they close a moment later.

Glancing around the massive entryway, Louis took a moment to look around the exquisite room in front of him. It looked as luxurious as ever with the open floor plan and expensive paintings decorating the crisp white walls. He'd hardly ever think it was in need of cleaning, but things tend to get dusty while one is on a four-month long world tour.

"Need to finish by 9..." Zayn trails off as he starts unloading supplies and putting in his earbuds. The pair have even gone as far as creating their own eco-friendly organic cleaning mixes— mostly in part of it being way cheaper and just as effective, but they could charge a premium for it, because majority of their clients had more money than brains.

Granted Louis never envisioned himself being a maid, he couldn't complain too much, it paid more than any shitty part-time job he ever had and put him through college debt-free. Although they had strict rules about not touching anything that wasn't meant to be cleaned (beds, closets, wines racks—ehem, Zayn), Louis never could quite restrain himself from grazing his fingers over the plush duvet and pillows that were littered on the California King bed in front of him. He would never let it be known that for the few hours he spent in these multi-million dollar apartments, he pretended that they were his own. 

Even as a child Louis was absolutely fascinated, if not downright obsessed with extravagance. He even convinced majority of his elementary school that he came from royalty and lived in a huge castle in England, but his parents sent him to The States to learn about how 'normal people' lived. Most of his family nicknamed him Gatsby for the better part of his life, and thankfully, he's complained enough that it's only dwindled down to his two sisters keeping the nickname, and Zayn when he wanted to piss Louis off. 

He didn't grow up poor by any means, his parents held respected jobs as a nurse and professor. Now, Louis just survived on what he made from his business to live comfortably, although sometimes he would splurge on a fancy Burberry coat or five pairs of Ray-Bans. He deserved it though, and frankly spending money on rent and groceries was getting annoying, he had to switch it up a bit and spoil himself, because no one else would.

Once out if his daydream, Louis got back to work and had the room spotless within half an hour. It took him and Zayn a few months to get a good flow going. When they first started, they used drugstore products that always left a weird film of gunk on everything and would miscommunicate and clean the same room twice. But now, Zayn takes the north and east end of the house while Louis takes south and west and they meet in the middle. By 8:45 they have the entire place sparkling and spotless and high five after a job well done.

This is how it goes most days. Sometimes they'll be in five different places, or sometimes as little as one. Luckily today, they only have two and are home a little after 1 p.m.

Louis always has this short wave of depression when it's time to step back into reality. Which means going back to their 500 square foot Brooklyn apartment that has a leaky faucet and sticky front door that takes a few shoves to shut properly— but it was home right? At least he was doing better than most of the people he graduated high school with, who were all stuck in dead-end jobs and loveless relationships.

"What do you say we grab a slice at Jay's?" Zayn asks as he makes his third and final attempt at parallel parking the van, honestly he should be used to it, but Louis can't poke fun at him because he's yet to learn how to drive. Louis' stomach grumbles in delight of the prospect of $3 greasy pizza and he nods in agreement.

"Did you see the new Grammy on the shelf?" Zayn asks Louis between bites as oil slides down his chin.

"Yeah, fucking cool," Louis responds as he hands Zayn a napkin. He's learned to block out the awards that litter the walls and the thousands and thousands of dollars worth of clothes hanging from the closets. At first his jaw would drop when he entered every room, but Louis' gotten so used to it that he doesn't usually notice anything new.

"Wish that could be me one day, man," Zayn says biting into his crust. Zayn had always wanted to be in music and Louis can recount all of the times he'd keep him awake while recording in his room at college. Unfortunately for Zayn, he never got his big break and gave up on his dream once Louis asked him to be partners in the business.

"Plate's empty...'nother slice?" Louis asks, "on me," he winks and gets up to get them another slice. As he's walking to the counter he notices a commotion outside of the large glass windows. There are more than a dozen screaming girls and even though it's bright outside, a dozen more flashes are going off.

"All the fuckin' time," the boy behind the counter says as he rolls his eyes, "fuckin' celebrities think they're so cool coming around here...six bucks man."

Louis hands over the money but keeps his eyes on the scene outside, "any idea who it is?" He asks as the group zeros in on the person. As a native New Yorker, Louis knows better than to sound interested in anything going on outside of his little bubble, but he was curious.

"Who the fuck knows, maybe they'll come in and buy the fuckin' place and I can go home," the pimply faced kid chuckles as he slides the hot pizza on two paper plates.

Louis takes the plates and heads back to their table, the red booths sort of cut off the scene outside but Louis can still hear the shrieking girls.  

* * *

"That was quite the welcoming committee," the man to Harry's left says to him as the car door slams shut.

"Sorry, thought I was being incognito," Harry says pulling the beanie off of his head and leans it against the tinted window of the SUV. "Guess someone saw us at that bodega."

"Looks like we're being followed," Niall says looking in his side mirror, "we should lose them once we get to the bridge and cross into Manhattan." 

Harry had this bright idea of wanting to purchase an apartment in New York and thought that looking in the mid-afternoon on a weekday would surely mean he'd be safe from the screaming hordes of teenage girls who should otherwise be in school— turns out he was wrong. Niall, his publicist and best friend, was along for the ride, as was his trusty Real Estate agent who unfortunately got trampled by a group of girls at their second to last stop.

"Is Brooklyn off of the list then?" The man asks as Harry watches him scribble on a piece of paper that's attached to this ugly brown case.

"No, I liked that one, the rooftop was cool," Harry replies jumping a little when a banging startles his head on his blacked-out window. "For fuck's sake..." 

"Go through the light please," Niall instructs in his most calm and authoritative manner. The driver, who takes a second to look both ways, speeds off leaving three girls choking on car fumes.

"Well this last one is a nice Upper East Side spot, contemporary, five beds and baths, walk in closets, Central Park view, even has a maid's room that you can convert into a bedroom," the agent says looking down at another piece of paper. "$6.3 million...right on budget, sir."

"Sounds good to me," Harry says looking down at his phone as he types his name into Twitter, "just a few people saying we're headed for the bridge, but nothing else Ni."

"That's my job Harry, tweet something funny or something. Those girls probably hate you for not stopping for photos," Niall says turning in his seat to look at his friend. Harry's not quite sure what he'd do without him, he kept him sane and grounded in this crazy world and Harry trusted Niall with his life, if he said to jump, Harry wouldn't hesitate.

Luckily, no one recognized Harry as he walked into the final building and for once in his life he actually felt under dressed in his ratty ripped skinny jeans and two-day old shirt, "damn," he whispers as the heels of his boots clink on the marble floor.

"This is only the residential entryway sir, if you'll follow me this way." His agent motions to an elevator on Harry's right. "I think you'll really love this one."

Harry often felt like his favorite fictional character—Harry Potter—whenever he was introduced to luxury. Although he's been around wealth for a few years now, it never seized to amaze him at what money could buy. Much like Mr. Potter was in awe of magic, Harry's jaw seemed to always drop when he walked into places like this and even more so that he knew he could afford to live here. Most of the time he would never let Niall fuss with reserving lavish hotel suites and opted for whatever was cheapest in the area, if it was close to the venue and wasn't occupied entirely of teen girls, Harry was fine with it. It was actually Niall who was the one who started Harry on spending his money, before he cracked, he barely spent a dime (of course he doesn't count the house he bought his mom, that was to pay her back for raising him on her own).

"There's access to a private jacuzzi with a stone walkway just through those doors," the man says as Harry walks around the apartment and follows the man's point. It looked like The Secret Garden had come to life through the glass doors and Harry bit his lip in excitement of this last place.

"Bedrooms?" Harry asks looking up at him, after they toured the kitchen, with it's lime green accent wall and stainless steel appliances.

"That's my boy," Niall chuckles as he wiggles his eyebrows and Harry punches him in the arm as they walk behind the man and follow him up a set of stairs.

"You'll obviously need to get this room painted, it served as the child's room," he says leading them into an enormous room that was decked out in a whimsical fairy theme.

"I actually like how it is," Harry says touching the hanging lights, and he doesn't miss the way his agent chortles.

"I think you'll like the master more, this way," he says leading them out. Harry really isn't listening to him as he talks about the other rooms in the house and points in various directions, something about the place has already hooked him. It was just contemporary enough, but still was unique and fun for a 22-year-old. It wasn't stuffy like the last couple of places.

"Canopy living suite you?" He asks as he opens the curtains in what Harry guessed was a practiced reveal as the curtains moved away from the wall, Harry saw that one whole wall was just floor to ceiling windows and outside, treetops lined the space, giving the illusion that one was living up high in their canopies, it was a nice touch.

He walked around the huge room and into the expansive bathroom that had a lingering lavender smell—Harry's favorite—and he inhaled as he walked out and toward the bed where his fingers traced down the side of the creme duvet. He could definitely envision himself living here permanently, and even as a place to settle down later.

"Get it down to an even six million and I'll take it," Harry casually says as he turns on his heels and answers the buzzing phone in his pocket.

"You heard the man," Niall says as he follows Harry out into the living room.

* * *

The only client-turned-friend Louis has ever made was a semi-famous soccer player named Liam. It happened when Zayn got a call from a manager who's client was in need of his house to be "tidied" up after a party— more like reconstruct an entire apartment in a few hours. Although that wasn't exactly how the duo operated, once they were told their normal wages would be tripled, Louis eagerly agreed and they showed up in record time. It was a complete disaster, but they somehow managed to make it spotless.

Liam had felt so badly about it that they had to clean up vomit and god knows what else— jizz, definitely, 100% jizz—that he asked them to stay for lunch, which turned into the three of them hanging out and watching the Yankees defeat the Mets on the biggest TV Louis had ever seen. Then, the sun was setting and Liam ordered them all dinner that cost about a month's rent.

It's since turned into a fairly normal friendship, they hang out whenever Liam is back in town and he's extended Louis and Zayn's job duties to house sitters while he's away — the pay is phenomenal for a quick glance around the place to make sure no faucets are flooding his $2 million dollar apartment. Plus, they get to chill on his cool residents only rooftop and drink cheap wine that they brought from home.

Tonight was one of those nights.

"Is it bad that I secretly wish Liam left his estate to us and his plane mysteriously disappears?" Louis asks with a hiccup as he snatches the bottle from Zayn's loose grasp. The May air was cool on Louis' warm cheeks and he shut his eyes and listened to the quiet hum of the cars below. The wooden chair he's sitting in is plush and comfier than his own bed, he wishes he could take it home...he wishes this were his home.

"That's terrible Louis," Zayn laughs through his cigarette, "so terrible."

"Yeah, but ya know...be cool right?" Louis says sipping the wine and handing it back to Zayn. He momentarily gets lost in Zayn's overall dreaminess, if they weren't best friends, Louis would have already been in his lap sucking bruises into his jaw. But alas, Louis wasn't lucky enough to have someone like Zayn be attracted to him.

"yeah, for sure. You'll get there someday, or just marry rich," Zayn laughs as he takes the bottle. "We'll get you a sugar daddy...Liam can be your sugar daddy."

"I don't care  _that_ much about money," Louis says defensively, "I just...dunno...never mind." The wine was definitely getting to him and he knows they should go home soon but he doesn't want to shatter this illusion just yet.

As if Zayn was reading his mind, he suggested they stay the night seeing as he felt like they wouldn't be able to navigate the subways intoxicated (which was a lie, but that's the kind of friend Zayn is) and declared that for the rest of the night they were to assume the titles of trust fund babies and thus required drinking something more expensive than $4 wine.

After a quick trip to the liquor store for a —gasp— $10 bottle of wine, Zayn and Louis spend the rest of their evening waltzing around Liam's apartment in his clothing uttering the poshest words they can think of, and by 1 a.m. they're in a fit of giggles as they make their way to one of the lavish guest suites to retire for the night. Louis spends the night dreaming of jumping on the king sized bed and throwing hundred dollar bills from the balcony.

He's woken to music, a pop song his groggy head can't place. Groaning he reaches out to slap for Zayn, which is his way of communicating "too loud." He hears Zayn laugh and the music get louder.

"Who's this singing?" Louis asks sleepily as he pulls the covers over his head.

"The TV says Harry Styles? Dunno it's on GMA," Zayn responds uninterestedly with a yawn.

"That means it's only like 8 a.m. oh my god, I need sleep, turn this nonsense off please," Louis begs.

When Zayn doesn't comply, Louis groans louder and kicks his feet under the covers as if he was five. He can already feel the lyrics seeping through his skull into his brain, and he'll be damed if the (rather catchy) words "we're on fire, we're on fire now," get stuck in his head for the rest of the day.

"He's pretty hot, you should take a look," Zayn says with a chuckle and he hits Louis with the controller. "I think my sisters listen to him actually."

Out of curiosity, Louis peeks his head out from the covers and palms for his glasses and focuses on the screen. Okay, Zayn was right, he was pretty fucking hot, and Louis vaguely recognizes him from some of the weekly gossip magazines he's flipped through. He mostly recalls seeing the same guy draped in a gorgeous hunter green Burberry coat at their fashion show back in February, asshole probably got it for free.

"I'll buy you his album for Christmas," Zayn says lowering the volume once Harry is finished with his song.

"Funny," Louis says giving up on going back to sleep. He's half-listening to the television as he gets up to go to the bathroom and stops halfway when the boy starts speaking about the song he just sang.

"What?" Zayn asks, "you okay?"

"His voice, it's just so..."

"Deep and sexy," Zayn mocks as a pillow comes hurling through the air. Okay, so maybe that's exactly what Louis was thinking but he decides not to continue and goes into the bathroom instead.

* * *

 Although Harry has only moved approximately three times in his entire life, he's become somewhat of a pro. That and when you can hire people to basically do all the work for you, it's a little easier. He wasn't really sure if this passed as moving, since he still owned his LA apartment and everything in the New York one was brand new, but he didn't want to think about that, it made him seem like an asshole.

He was barely even allowed to physically _move_ things either. "That's why we hired them," Niall would say and he wasn't going to risk Harry getting seen by a fan and ruin the covert move. It's only been a small buzz online, headlines here and there that Harry was seen looking at apartments, but Niall made sure no word had gotten out that he'd actually bought one. Harry spent his time inside giving instructions on where boxes went, even though each one was carefully labeled with the room. The place still looked huge despite brown and white boxes stacked along every inch of the walls. 

Luckily, a label meeting and some interviews pulled him away from the scene for a portion of the afternoon, and hopefully by the time he returned, Holly, his interior decorator, would have at least some of the rooms finished. He was getting sick of staying in The London for the tenth night and the other guests were getting fed up too now that one of Harry's many Twitter update accounts had leaked his location and girls littered the sidewalk at the entrance. As much as he loved his fans, he was relieved that it only took a week to find an apartment where no one was going to pounce on him and tug at his clothes every time he wanted to enter and exit.

Saturdays were the most hectic, the girls were out of school and had nothing better to do on a May afternoon when the weather was absolutely gorgeous. "Wouldn't you rather be at Central Park?" He'd joke with a girl of about 14 with a freckled face and tears in her eyes. "No, unless you're going to be there," she'd respond as her shaking hand is out-stretched grasping her iPhone. Harry smiles politely for the photo and moves on to the next girl and the next, until a big burly man hired to protect him, is putting himself between Harry and the fans and telling them that Harry is leaving. Never one to disappoint, Harry sneaks one or two more photos until he's being dragged away into a black SUV.

"I do really want to go to Central Park though," Harry says once he's safely inside the car. "We can go to one of the far ends, away from the tourist areas...I can change real quick," he pleads knowing his request will be denied.

"Yeah, sure," one of his bodyguards says without putting up a fight, "you could use the fresh air."

As to not cause too much of a scene, Harry is dropped off first, followed by two bodyguards in street clothes who distance themselves far enough away that no one would suspect one of the world's biggest stars was amongst them. New Yorkers aren't ones to even give anyone around them a second glance, which is why Harry loves it so much. He can feel slightly normal here, and the New York air is filled with less desperation than in L.A.

There was a slight chill to the air, but the sun was out in all its glory, so Harry opted for just his black beanie and Ray-Bans, leaving his hoodie on the leather seat. Only a handful of people were out on the section of lawn Harry decided to sprawl out on, a couple with their child and a few singles with their dogs. The grass prickled his hair and neck and the sun beat down on his face, as he got comfortable, it would only take a few moments for him to drift to sleep.

It started with a scream and then a blunt force hitting the side of his face, that would wake Harry from whatever dream he was having. He shot up from the ground with a gasp and looked around while rubbing his head. A white, gold and black soccer ball lay a few feet away from him and he could hear a pair of voices whisper-yelling not too far from where he was sitting.

"Sorry man, kicked it a little to hard and my friend has the shittiest reflexes," one of the voices says loudly as the pair of boys approach him. They looked about his age and wore almost matching Nike running shorts and grey shirts.

"It's fine, no worries," Harry replies still rubbing his head, "I'll just sue you next time," he says with a snorted laugh.

"Please don't," the shorter of the two replies, "my business would crumble."

"Let me play and I'll reconsider?" Harry says getting to his feet. "Harry by the way," he says taking off his sunglasses and extending his palm to the boys.

The taller one seems to nudge the shorter one quickly, Harry would have missed it if it wasn't for the creepy way Harry may have been focused on the hand that was on his hip.

"Oh yeah, hey, I'm Louis, this is Zayn," he says gripping Harry's hand and releasing it quickly. "Two on one or every man for himself?"

"Two on one, I'm flying solo bitches," the one named Zayn says as he runs past Harry and grabs the ball heading down the grass.

"Please excuse him, he's an asshole," Louis says with a laugh and runs in the same direction. Harry spends a little too long following the curve of Louis' body until he realizes the boys are halfway across the grass already and he runs after them. Sometimes he had to remember very hard that he wasn't a normal person and couldn't just be caught staring at another guy, he had to constantly be aware of his surroundings.

They set up makeshift goals with some twigs and the other boys' jackets and despite Harry's long legs, he was terrible at covering the goal. He's not good, like at all, and if it wasn't for Louis, honestly Zayn would have kicked their asses a lot more than he did. But he was having fun and felt like a regular guy, which was a feeling that was far and few between in his hectic life.

"Man, I really hope you have a day job and aren't considering this as a profession," Zayn says dribbling the ball quickly between his feet and eying the goal.

Harry gets distracted contemplating his answer and Zayn scores right between his legs and he hears Louis groan in detest but there's a playful ring to it and Harry doesn't beat himself too much over it, especially when Louis winks at him and mouths "watch this" and gets the ball and scores on Zayn.

"You ought to be nice to him, he could be a mass murderer for all we know," Louis says taking a second to drink from a water bottle. "Want some?" he asks shaking the bottle in Harry's direction. Harry nods and Louis tosses it and Harry drops it and they laugh at him.

"That's probably a 'no' on the mass murderer thing," Zayn says a second later, "couldn't imagine this one holding a gun or knife, he'd probably wound himself more."

"That'd be true actually," Harry says screwing the cap back on the water and toeing the ball. An embarrassing loud rendition of Britney Spears' "Toxic" comes blaring from the ground where Harry's phone sits and he feels his cheeks heat up as he struggles to bend over and pick it up. Louis smirks at him and grabs the ball and runs a few feet back and Zayn follows as Harry answers his phone.

* * *

 "That's definitely the kid we saw on TV a few days ago right?" Zayn says as he looks behind him at the boy on his phone.

"I think so...he looks so much younger in person," Louis says passing the ball between his feet, "the first name matches and the voice..." Louis says getting caught up in what Harry's voice sounds like. He was starting to understand why millions of girls had a crush on this kid, not that he had a crush, he didn't even know him, but there was something almost addicting about him.

"We should find out if he lives here, get a new client," Zayn suggests. The business side of Louis wants to agree, but the single 24-year-old boy in him wants to make this budding friendship the furthest thing from a business transaction.

Thankfully, Harry walks over so Louis doesn't have to commit to an answer, "sorry about that, was uh..."

"No worries, Zayn's starting to smell anyway which means it's time for us to go," Louis jokes earning a jab of an elbow from Zayn.

"You live around here Harry? Need a lift?" Zayn asks. Smooth Zayn, smooth.

"Yeah, just moved here actually, and I have a driver thanks though," Harry says with a polite smile and Louis melts slightly. "You live close?"

"We're staying at our f-" Zayn starts but Louis cuts him off, "Our apartment on 77th, just down the block," Louis interrupts and he doesn't miss the judgement on Zayn's face.

He's not sure why he lied to Harry, he just didn't want to admit that they didn't live close, that in fact they lived in a shitty Brooklyn apartment that Harry would probably scoff at if he ever stepped foot in and how the only driver Louis' ever had was that one time in college in the back of a police car. Plus, there was no harm in lying, Louis figures this wasn't going to go past acquaintances right? 

Harry was about to respond when the loudest shriek Louis has ever heard started ringing in his ears. Harry's name echoed in his skull along with thirty or so "oh my gods."

Louis and Zayn took a step back as a group of five girls who paid no mind to them came out of nowhere running toward Harry all with their phones out begging for a photo. Harry barely looks startled and doesn't seemed fazed as he smiled politely for all of them. Louis saw two huge men who he sort of noticed the entire time, come jogging toward where they were standing and get between Harry and the girls, telling them not to share the photos for at least an hour. They politely started asking them to leave and said that Harry was on his way out of the park and started pushing Harry away from the group and toward where the road was. Harry motioned for Louis and Zayn to follow and they grabbed their stuff and quickly caught up as one guard was trying to keep the group of girls from following.

Louis could hear two of the girls whisper, "who are they?" and "I don't know, friends?", "should we get pics with them?", "Nah." until the voice of the guard was louder than their whispering.

"Fuck, so sorry about that, someone must have seen me," Harry says embarrassed, but Louis thought it was endearing. "Maybe I'll see you around then?" Harry asks with what Louis translates as a glimmer of hope, "I need to redeem myself after that game," he laughs solely in Louis' direction.

"Yeah, yeah, totally," Louis stutters, "we come out every Saturday," he adds.

"Cool, yeah, um yeah sorry again about that, fans are a little um passionate," Harry smiles.

"It's okay, feel like an ass not recognizing you," Louis lies, but it's worth it for the smile he gets back.

"Wouldn't expect you to, not really my target demographic," Harry says fixing his beanie and putting his sunglasses on as he starts climbing into his car.

"Maybe you should exchange numbers..." Zayn adds with a ever-present smirk.

"Good one Malik, always on the ball," Louis says sarcastically as Harry hands him his phone a few seconds later.

 "That was absolutely humiliating Louis," Zayn says after Harry's door is shut and they walk toward Liam's, "you're so fucking embarrassing."

"Shut the fuck up," Louis hisses as he balances the soccer ball under his arm. He thought he was pretty smooth the entire time, he was considering ending their friendship just for that statement, yep he could find a new best friend easily, one who was more sympathetic and supportive to his needs.

"So now we're millionaires huh? Need to impress the popstar do we?" Zayn says once they're done showering and Louis is making them lunch.

"It just came out okay?" Louis says defensively. "Not like we're going to be best friends with Harry Styles or anything, he was just being polite."

On cue, Louis' phone buzzes on the granite counter top and Louis finishes topping of the turkey sandwich he's made and slides it to Zayn and grabs his phone. It's an unknown 310 number and just says "hiiiii" and a few seconds later it buzzes again with, "it's Harry...sorry forgot to add that."

"He send nudes or something? You're beaming," Zayn says with his mouthful.

"Fuck off," Louis says not looking up and typing a response. "You think he's gay though? Didn't he date that one actress a few years ago?"

Louis may or may not have done a Google search on Harry after they saw him on TV. He knew who he was, but never really paid him any attention, but now he wishes he had. His search did indeed lead him to a few of the singer's past relationships that all included women, and his most recent relationship was from three years ago with an English actress who Louis didn't know, but it ended it what was said to be a mutual discussion and Harry hasn't been seen with anyone since except for rumored girlfriends with no concrete evidence.

 

The next week went on as usual, waking up to go to work for the next few hours and so on. The only thing that changed was he was texting a little more than usual. Harry would just send him random things throughout the day, or photos of a disorganized room and messy kitchen. Louis forced himself not to offer to help clean, and instead tried to slyly pry into Harry's life to learn more about him. He was curious as to why Harry spent so much of his time texting Louis when he must have better things to do.

**How does one person create such a huge mess?**

**dunno...just do...I need to hire cleaners or something.**

Louis' heart races a little and he figures he could sort of tell the truth now, but still lie a little...totally acceptable.

**You're in luck Styles. I'm the CEO of one of Manhattan's best and most regarded cleaning services.**

**you're lying...**

**Am not. See photo.**

Louis attaches a shot of his business card that, okay he got 500 for free off the Internet, but Harry doesn't need to know. As long as he doesn't suspect his team consists of two people and not a fleet of hundreds, everything will be fine.

**Wow, no wonder you can live on the UES. Do i get a discount for being ruggedly handsome?**

**Hmmmm. No, but you can get the friend discount.**

**: D seriously though, my house is a mess. How do i sign up?**

**I'll bring the paperwork Saturday and I'll put you in the system, even though that's NOT my job.**

**sounds like i owe you coffee**

**Make it coffee and a strawberry sprinkled donut from Dunkin and you have yourself a deal kid. Also why did you even move here from LA?**

**i have both places actually...just needed an east coast apartment you know how it is, business and stuff and okay donut and coffee it is**

Okay, so Louis in fact _doesn't_ know how it is, but he wasn't going to blow his cover just yet. So he did was he always does: changes the subject.

**NYC is far better anyway shittier weather though**

**it's not too bad yet. ugh kill me another meeting. idk how people can do this all day shoot me.**

**Cheer up you'll be fine, it's Friday, surely you have extravagant plans**

**more like a paid appearance at some club...**

**Wait, what? How do I get that gig???????????? Paid to party fuck that's my kind of job!!!!**

**HA! You're funny. Wanna come? i can't promise you'll get paid but i can get you free drinks you can bring zayn**

Louis smiled at his phone and okay, it wasn't like Harry was like asking him on a date, but he did invite him out and Zayn wouldn't be too pissed if he just didn't invite him. Right? Little white lies never hurt anyone.

**Zayn's an introvert can't deal with loud music, it hurts his big smart brain.**

**well damn but you'll come : )**

**Definitely.**

Okay, Louis' heart rate had increased significantly. Why had a stupid colon and parenthesis made his palms sweaty? Harry probably just didn't want to be alone in a stupid club that had to be it, he already expressed that he didn't have tons of friends here and Louis was obviously being nice and Harry must appreciate his hospitality. 

Louis had never even heard of the club Harry had told him to go to, probably because the cover charge was half a month's rent. He gave his name to the woman at the front and showed his ID and the bouncer let him in. He texted Harry once he was in and looked around the crowded place for him.

* * *

Harry's phone buzzed in his pocket as he sat in the VIP area of the club, he was already slightly tipsy thanks to having to promo some new champagne and took hundreds of photos of him sipping it. Since he really wasn't allowed to leave the area, he told Louis where to go and a few minutes later, he saw Louis walking up the steps. Harry excused himself from the small group of people and met Louis halfway.

"Glad you came," he shouted over the music. The low light lets him survey Louis' outfit, tight black jeans and a dark red scoop-neck shirt. His hair is messy, but in an intentional way and Harry sort of wants to run his fingers through it.

"Thanks for having me," he laughs as a woman stops to hand them drinks off of a tray.

"Of course. Come on over, there's some couches and stuff over here," Harry says motioning for Louis to follow him. He's really hoping this isn't too much for Louis, but assumes he always does VIP when he goes out, what kind of CEO doesn't?

They settle in on one of the bright red couches and Harry introduces Louis to the other people there, which includes Niall, who is taking a day off from publicist and attending as best friend, as Niall drunkenly tells Louis.

Harry's glad the music is loud, it gives him an excuse to lean into Louis and talk to him. He smells like a deep pepper which Harry can identify as Gucci Guilty, mixed with his natural scent that seems to be more intoxicating than whatever Harry is currently sipping on.

"Drink as much as you'd like, it's all on the house," Harry says into Louis' ear. 

"I'm going to hang out with you more often," Louis laughs as he reaches forward for his cocktail and clinks it against Harry's drink. "Doesn't this sort of appearance go against your target?" Louis asks curiously.

"Ni, he's going to steal your job if you don't look out," Harry yells to Niall then lowers his voice, "yes and no, I'm trying to shift to an older crowd, I feel like a fucking creep grabbing my junk in front of a bunch of pre-teens ya know?" Louis nods and sips his drink again and Harry thinks he sees his eyes flicker to his lap when he said it.

Harry's not sure if it's the alcohol, but he finds both of them bumping into each other more, whether it's their fingers brushing against each other's or their knees, Harry quite likes the warmth Louis provides when he notices how closely their bodies are pressed together on the couch. He barely notices that most of the people in their booth have disappeared to the dance floor or left all together, he's been so caught up in learning about Louis to even care.

Their conversation is interrupted a few times when Harry has to get up and get photographed with barely dressed girls, or make an announcement to the crowd. He makes sure to check up on Louis every so often and is glad to see him and Niall chatting away and taking shots together. He almost feels like they've known each other for years instead of barely a week.

Niall corners Harry after a trip to the bathroom and pulls him to the side, away from where anyone is. Harry's slightly drunk, but still coherent and can see the stern look on Niall's face before he even starts to talk.

"People can see you, even up here," he starts and Harry goes to talk but Niall shushes him, "can you trust him?"

"Yeah," Harry says without thinking, "he's just my friend, Ni."

"You look like you're about to pounce on him Harry," Niall laughs, "just worked hard to keep you...ya know...," he adds a second later, "just you know how many people are involved in this, including..."

"Niall I know, shit. Literally been a week," Harry pouts, "can I just have fun?"

Niall hugs him and slaps his ass as he shoves him back toward the party and mumbles something about protection and Harry's pretty sure he's not talking about his bodyguard.

"So why aren't you dancing with any of those girls who keep coming up here?" Louis asks him after they've taken a shot of something that stings his throat. "You don't need to babysit me, I'll be fine," he laughs and Harry grabs another drink to keep his hands busy.

"Cause if I dance with someone, it automatically means I'm sleeping with them and then it's all over gossip sites, it's easier to just sit here and smile every so often." It's not a complete lie, it's exactly what happens, he just figured he'd leave it at that for now.

"Never met a guy who  _wouldn't_ want that," Louis laughs again and reaches over to taste Harry's drink. He freezes a little when Louis' fingers slide over his and Louis' eyes flicker up to his as he sips it, it's downright pornographic the way his eyelashes flutter and his tongue swipes over his bottom lip to soak up the leftover alcohol. Harry clenches his free fist out of Louis' sight, trying not to pin him to the couch and taste his lips.

"You're more than welcome to go dance with them, don't let me keep you," Harry says somewhat testing Louis. He can't read him just yet.

"Not my type I'm afraid," he says. "Need them with a little bit more hair on their chest." Harry can't help but to do a mental fist pump at Louis' words and may scoot that much closer to Louis so their knees touch.

"Ah, gotcha," Harry replies, not sure if he should let Louis know that he agrees. What if he can't be trusted like Niall said, he hasn't known him that long, but the alcohol is definitely messing with his brain and before he knows it, Louis' hair is tickling his nose as he whispers, "same" into his ear, his mouth lingering inches from the skin.

Although the music is loud, Harry can hear the gulp Louis takes and feels his fingertips brush past his knee to rest on his own. Harry pulls his face back a few inches and leans back against the plush couch and lets his right arm fall behind Louis as casually as possible, the arm of the couch blocking people from seeing anything. Louis instantly leans back and Harry tests himself and creeps his fingers under the hem of Louis' shirt and presses onto the skin of his lower back with his fingertips. Louis wiggles slightly and Harry grazes his blunt nails down the small of his back and glances over at Louis who's biting his lower lip.

Harry's phone buzzes in his pocket a moment later.

**Wanna dance?**

**gimme a min k?**

He looks over at Louis who nods and Harry pulls his arm out of Louis' shirt and stands up and walks over to one of the bodyguards and then back to Louis.

"Just wait for them to come and get you," he says in Louis' ear and walks behind their booth and down another hallway to an empty booth at the far end of the upstairs. It's completely dark except for a small candle and completely blocked off from any prying eyes. Harry doesn't have time to sit on the couch because Louis' walking in with Paul, Harry's most trusted bodyguard and the man leaves the two, but Harry knows he hasn't gone too far.

"James Bond shit up in here," Louis laughs as he sets some drinks on the table.

"Sorry, just have to be careful, ya know?" Harry says taking one of the drinks and downing it. "About that dance though..." he says extending his palm and Louis smiles placing his hand in Harry's. He pulls him into his chest and Louis wraps his arms around his neck and Harry digs his face into Louis' neck as his hands wrap around his waist.

"We're slow dancing to Sia," Louis laughs and Harry feels it through his entire body like an electrical shock. Louis is intoxicating and like a hot fuse against Harry's skin. He hasn't felt like this in awhile and now he's diving head first into the deep end. He bites down on Louis' neck in protest and the sound out of Louis' mouth is wickedly good as he follows it up with an "ow." Harry giggles into the skin, kissing the red mark, then moves his lips up Louis' neck, to his jaw and pulls off a little as his lips come into view.

* * *

So this is actually happening. Harry Styles is kissing him. And it's soft and wonderful and his lips must be made out of cotton candy or something because they're delicious and plump and Louis doesn't ever want to stop. His head is spinning, but it could be the drinks, and Louis thinks it's really the effect of Harry. His tongue is warm and wet and Louis is getting chills all over his body when Harry pulls off of his mouth and licks up his neck to his ear. He's not sure how he's standing still, but Harry's arm is steadying him against his body and _oh_ what a body Harry has. He's not concentrating on the press against his thigh, no, not at all. He doesn't gasp when Harry shifts a little and Louis can feel the whole of his length against his jeans, hard and fucking thick and his hands tremble with the want to touch and explore, but too afraid to shatter the moment as if it were a dream.

Louis' done this before, he's met a guy at a party or club and hooked up, he assumes Harry has done it too, maybe a little more covertly than Louis since he's not bamboozling the whole world into thinking he's straight. He wants this to go further, but he also wants it to last, not just past right now or tonight, but he doesn't want this to be a one time thing either, they've connected too much for it to be just that.

He puts it out of his mind and digs his fingers into Harry's hair pulling him down on the couch that's behind them and messily straddles his thighs as he pulls his head back hard to kiss Harry's throat. Right now he's just going to concentrate on making Harry a mess, they can worry about the rest later.

"No marks," Harry barely gets the words out with jagged breaths as his hands roam up and down Louis' thighs and ass. Louis just nods and continues to kiss the salty skin, nipping lightly enough that the red fades quickly. God what he'd do to mark Harry up, leave bruises over his skin that'll last for days and serve as a reminder for what Louis can do for him again and again. He moves back to his mouth, already missing Harry's taste and kisses him deeply, letting his hips drop enough just to tease him.

"Harry I hate to do this," Niall's voice comes from a few feet away behind the dark curtain. Louis freezes, but Harry whispers "it's okay" and keeps a steady hand on his hips, his fingers tracing lines on the skin. "the waterlily burst," Niall continues. Harry yells a "k" but doesn't say anything else and Louis is insanely confused.

He assumes that's code for something. Maybe stocks or album sales, but he looks down to a frowning Harry and can't help but to kiss his pouting lips, he sighs when Harry kisses back.

"Is this your way of making a quick exit?" Louis half jokes. He's not sure if this is how Harry always gets out of these situations or if there is really trouble somewhere.

"No, not at all, I promise," Harry says leaning forward to grab Louis' chin with his fingers and pulls him into a kiss, "but it is serious and I feel like an ass..."

"Shh, it's fine," Louis says pulling himself off of Harry and getting to his feet. He smoothes out his shirt and fixes his hair and finishes his drink and watches Harry stretch. He's done this walk a million times, there's no reason for this sinking feeling in his chest to happen. Maybe he did get a little ahead of himself thinking this would be more than what it actually was.

"One of my guys will bring you home," Harry says with a smile as he leans down to kiss Louis, "I'm sorry."

"I can walk really, it's okay," Louis insists, but Harry won't take no for an answer and Louis complies.

"I promise this isn't me ditching you," Harry says seriously and Louis stupidly believes him and nods and leans up for another kiss.

Niall doesn't have any look of judgement or disgust on his face as the pair walk out, he's too busy typing on his phone and leading them back to the main booth. They have to leave separately and at different times so Louis stands back and watches Harry disappear hastily out a back entrance. Louis takes one more shot before sulking home, denying the request to be driven.

He shuts off his phone, not caring if Harry texts, he's more upset with himself, for even letting any of this happen in the first place. Clearly this was Harry's way of getting out of the situation with little guilt. Louis got it, it happens all of the time and at least he'd have Zayn to cuddle with when he gets home.

But Zayn's asleep and Louis knows better than to wake him, so he makes himself a bed on the couch and turns on whatever the channel was left on earlier and watches it until his eyes get heavy and he falls asleep.

* * *

Harry sobers up a little on the way home, his knee frantically bouncing up and down, he's pissed at himself for getting this drunk, knowing better. The car is barely stopped before he's opening the door and hops out, his boots stomping on the brick steps is the only sound he can hear. He feels like such a dick leaving Louis like that, he probably feels so used and he promises he'll make it up to him somehow.

The dim of the living room light is on when he opens the door and Harry makes his way to one of the bedrooms, his favorite in the house, the fairy room where a woman is standing in the doorway with a book in her hand.

"Hey, why are we crying? Daddy got rid of the monsters last night," Harry says kneeling on the ground next to the bed. He makes a show of peeking his head under the mattress, "all gone, I knew I shouldn't have let you watch that Doctor Who episode with me," he says shaking his head. "Come on, what did Clara say?"

There's a moment of silence until a soft voice mutters, "being afraid is alright...but I saw it though," the little girl whines and lunges forward to cling to Harry's neck. "Can I sleep with you tonight Daddy?"

"Of course Lily, of course," he kisses her on the head and pulls her off of the bed and she wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her to his room and plops her down on the bed and she scurries under the covers. "Can Daddy shower real fast and Miss Sara will read to you?" Lily nods reluctantly and Harry sighs and calls the woman into the bedroom and kisses his daughter before retreating to the bathroom.

When he comes out, Lily is fast asleep, her curly brown hair covering most of her face and Harry thanks Sara and sees her out. He spends a second fishing his phone from his jeans, it's almost 3 a.m. and he sends a text to Louis before climbing into bed.

**hope you don't hate me. Lunch before soccer tomorrow?**

He plugs his phone in and turns the light off once he's under the covers and has an arm around Lily. She squeaks in her sleep and curls into his chest and he kisses her hair and mumbles an "I love you" and closes his eyes, exhausted from the day.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is over 14.5K words so get comfortable and it's a roller coaster of emotion. I hope you love it as much as I do.
> 
> Apologies for any errors. I spent about ten hours writing this, so there may be some mistakes.

Harry can feel eyes on him even though he's still half asleep and slightly hungover. He slowly peels his left eye open and it's as if doing so ignites some sort of switch.

"Daaaaddddy! Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes!" It's a blur of brown hair and pink pajamas and a shrieking voice as Harry comes to full consciousness with a roaring laugh as he bear hugs Lily who decides to head butt him the gut.

"Lily, sweetheart, what'd we talk about with your morning voice, lower please," He laughs as he gets a hold of his squirming daughter's hips. He's not really sure where she got her morning activeness from seeing as he's a late riser himself. He rolls her on his stomach so she's on top of him and he brushes the mess of hair out of her face. He's always amazed that she inherited his giant green eyes and brown hair instead of the blonde and brown combo her mother has. 

"Can I stir the batter?" She asks with a toothy grin that really says  _eat the batter_. "But of course your highness," Harry replies as he sits her up against his knees and lifts her shirt to blow raspberries on her belly and she kicks her feet on his stomach screaming in a fit of giggles.

She's decided on blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes this morning and Harry hopes to god Sara stocked the fridge. A sigh of relief fills the air in front of him as Harry pulls out all of the necessary ingredients they need and sets them on the granite countertops. "Daddy I need my chair," Lily whines as she tugs on his pajama pants. When she first took an interest in watching Harry cook, he decided to include her and bought her a little stool for her to stand on and help him. Problem was, said stool was in LA and Harry hasn't had time to go buy a replacement. "Let me check the utility closet," he says hopefully, even though he'll just find boxes in there. He was smiling when he opened the door to see a small purple step ladder and a note from Sara: 'Thank me later — knew you'd need one asap.' After breakfast he was definitely giving her a raise.

"Hey! No sneaking chocolate chips!" Harry says snatching the bag from Lily as the chips spill out of the measuring cup that she poured them in, "back in the bag missy, no treats," he jokes. She frowns up at him from where she's positioned between the counter and Harry. He reaches over her grabbing two chips and pops one in his mouth and one into hers and fingers a spoonful of gooey batter out of the bowl and shoves it in his mouth. Lily yells in protest as Harry grabs her little wrists and stops her from putting her own fingers in the batter. He considered himself a pretty good parent who didn't always give into their child, but honestly, seeing her frown even over him teasing her made his heart clench and he sighs and lets her take a little and eat it.

"Can you make me a giraffe and a hippo?" Lily asks as she stirs the remaining batter as Harry stands at the stove dropping the batter onto the sizzling griddle. "I can make you an 'L' and maybe Mickey, kiddo." They usually have cookie cutters that Harry will use to make different shapes, but again, back in LA — he really needed to go shopping, or really make a list for Sara because he can hear Niall's voice now saying, "what will people think when you're caught buying children's cookie cutters?"

After successfully making something out of the last spoonful of batter that sort of resembled a giraffe, Harry turns off the stove and ushers Lily to the table. She's insisted on eating all of her food on an Iron Man plate with Iron Man utensils and an Iron Man cup that Harry filled with orange juice. He holds his own cup between his teeth and walks around the island to the table where Lily is tugging on a few curls anxiously waiting for her meal. He drops her plate and drink in front of her then pulls out the chair next to her and sits. He watches her whisper a little prayer and mumble amen then start digging into her food like a starved animal.

It's a quarter to 11 when Harry looks at the time on the stove as him and Lily's hands are submerged in the soapy water at the sink. At an early age he's instilled in her to always clean up after she's finished with things, and although sometimes he doesn't take his own advice, it's nice to see that she does. Her room is spotless, even after moving things into it and buying her new toys. It makes him feel good about his parenting skills when he still considers himself a child.

"Go wash your face and brush your teeth, Miss Sara will be here soon to take you to dance class," Harry says after they've dried the last dish. Harry was surprised to learn that while living with her mother in London, Lily took up dance lessons. Whether it was by her own accord is unknown, but he didn't want her to stop just because she was with him. He found a company to enroll her in that wasn't too far from their home and had the same classes she took in London. "But I want to stay home with you Daddy," she says sulking off to her room with her head down.

Harry follows her into her room and lies on her unmade bed, grabbing the small bear he gave her when she was born and tugs on the bow around its neck, "after dance honey, you need to go," he replies sternly even though he really wants nothing more than for the two of them to stay home. "Mummy won't know if I don't go," she says in rebuttal. "Can we call her later?" she asks with her toothbrush hanging from her mouth. Harry nods and sets the bear down and gets to his feet to walk into the bathroom. He kisses Lily on the head and grabs her hairbrush.

He's perfected her ballet bun by the time Sara is unlocking the door and calling out to her and as the last bobby pin's in place Lily squirms out of Harry's knees and runs to her nanny.

"Long time no see Monkey," Sara says as she grabs Lily's hand, "ready to go? Change of clothes too so we can stop by the zoo?" She asks looking at Harry. He grabs the packed Spiderman backpack that's leaning against the doorframe and hands it over. "Call me if you need anything," he says to her, "Holly'll be finishing your room today so you're more than welcome to bring anything else over," Harry says about the almost furnished maid's room that'll be her live-in area. "And thank you for the stool," he adds as an afterthought and Sara smiles as her and Lily walk toward the front door.

"Bye Daddy I love you," she says letting go of Sara's hand and running to Harry. He bends down and lifts her into the air and hugs her tightly kissing her cheek. "Love you more," he says with a wet smack. "Love you most!" Lily giggles as she kisses the top of his nose. It took all of his strength to put her down and let them leave. He wishes even more that he could be the one bringing her instead.

Harry's claim to fame had been when his first single was chosen to be on the soundtrack for the biggest teen movie of the summer. He had been freshly 18 at the time and was whisked away to LA to record the music video. It was there that he met Emma, the lead actress and the mother of his child. It had been a stupid thing really, he'd never call it a mistake, because he loved Lily more than anything. Harry wanted to prove to himself that he did indeed like girls, that he could fall in love with a girl and be normal and happy and a relationship with the then 21-year-old actress was good publicity for his career. She got pregnant the first time they had sex, after the premier of the movie, Harry will never forget it. More so, he would never forget the moment that she had told him.

He wasn't upset, just speechless and guilty. He knew how this would affect both of their careers-more hers than his-and he never set out to ruin lives. Emma stayed calm, she trusted her management to figure it out — not once did she blame Harry, and he would always be grateful for that.

It was kept a secret, Emma decided she'd tell everyone she was in rehab once she started showing, "all actresses who go to rehab come out even bigger stars!" Harry came out to Emma shortly after Lily was born, she wasn't surprised and they had a public breakup but stayed closer than ever behind the scenes. It's been four years since then, and Harry's struggled with not being able to see Lily as much as he'd like. It's one thing to hop in a car in LA and drive to where she's filming to see Lily, but it's a new obstacle when she's located an ocean away in London and Harry's traveling the US on tour.

This time it'd be different though, she'd be with him until November, joining him on tour for the summer and back to her mom for Christmas. He's yet to spend a Christmas with her, but was lucky enough to be free on her birthday in March to attend her party. Six months didn't seem like enough time, nor did a year, he never wanted to make the trip to the airport ever again. He's had moments of panic where he thought she wouldn't remember him when she stepped off of the plane with Sara, would Skype chats and rare visits be enough to imprint her young mind with the face of her dad? He knew she had moved on from Harry rather quickly with a new boyfriend, a serious one with talks of and engagement — he didn't feel threatened, but jealous that behind the scenes, Lily had another father figure in her life that was more present than he'd ever been. 

And although they rarely fought over things, he never let her hear them talk about it, she already has to go through so much at a young age. He knew Emma would have the better chance of having her full-time once she was married and Harry's chances were even slimmer if he was to publicly come out.

In the beginning, Harry was gutted that he couldn't even hold his daughter in public, then Niall had the genius idea to make it seem like Lily was Sara's daughter. As imagined, it was difficult to get a baby to comply so it was only at controlled times that Harry could be with Lily — in Instagram photos, or backstage at his concert, and on rare occasion out in public when they worked out a deal with paps. But now that Lily's getting older, she's taking on more and more of his features and his management is not letting them risk any more sightings. There was already a low simmer of talk online where people guessed she was his, it was too close of a call and now Harry's gone back to sneaking around with her instead. 

Harry had fallen back to sleep after Sara and Lily had left, the buzzing of his phone alerts him that he has a text and it's a little past noon. He wipes the sleep out of his eyes grabbing for his phone off of the nightstand.

**Unfortunately Zayn is immobile after a work accident and unable to play, but if you'd like to come over we can order in and you can fill out those papers?**

Harry smiles at his phone, thankful that Louis responded to him after what had happened last night.

**I'm down. Send me your address and I'll leave in a bit.**

* * *

Louis' not completely sure what made him invite Harry over, it would have been safer to agree to go out, but he couldn't just leave Zayn here bitching and moaning about his ankle. He just _had to_ jump on the trampoline one of their clients had on there terrace, "live a little Tomlinson," he yelled to Louis as he bounced and came down with a crunch as his foot landed funny and he fell with a scream. Honestly, he'd fire him if he could.

He thought it best to tell Zayn that Harry was coming over when he was bringing him his medicine, "just so you know I sort of invited Harry over for lunch," he says setting the three aspirin down with a glass of water. "Good," Zayn replies taking the pills with a smile.

"Good?"

"Yeah, you need some excitement in your life," he says shimming his shoulders with a wink. Louis laughs at him and shakes his head as he puts the ice pack on his friend's ankle. "Better go put on some of Li's expensive clothes instead of that rag of a shirt," he says pointing to the old Vans tee Louis has on. It's splattered with bleach and has a few holes, yeah he should change. "you would instigate this lie more wouldn't you? This is so wrong," Louis sighs. 

"Do it for me, be the one to see how the other half lives...and fucks," he sniggers making a show of rubbing his neck. Louis gets a glimpse of his own as he passes Zayn's mirror and throws him the middle finger which makes Zayn cackle even louder. "Get it Tommo!" is the last thing Louis hears before he shuts the door to Liam's master bedroom.

It's technically not stealing if he's just going to borrow Liam's clothes, it's like that site girls go on and pay to rent expensive things, totally the same. Plus, Liam emailed Louis a few days ago to say he was going to be in Spain even longer than expected and to 'help yourself to anything in the apartment.' he took that as an invitation to his clothing, too.

Luckily they were about the same size, Liam had a little more muscle, but he also gets tons of free clothes that aren't in his size so Louis could find some clothes that fit. he settled on the softest shirt he could find, a black YSL tee that felt like butter against his skin. Liam's legs were longer than Louis' so the black jeans he grabbed were rolled at the ankle about four times, but it looked fine. 

He spent the next fifteen minutes or so hiding any traces of Liam, photos, trophies, utility bills — everything. And by the time Harry texted him, Louis was slightly ready to puke. Harry insisted on just giving Louis' name to the front desk, but obviously no Louis Tomlinson existed in this building so Louis convinced him to text when he'd get in. The ride down the elevator was nauseating, Louis was ready to call the whole thing off, he couldn't keep lying like this. He would tell Harry the truth today and move on with his life, it was already getting out of hand. 

Except when they make it back into the apartment and the door shuts, Harry grabs Louis by the waist and kisses him and Louis melts into it forgetting everything he was going to say. "That's for last night," Harry whispers into Louis' mouth, "and this," he says bringing his hands up to Louis' cheeks, cupping them and pulling their lips together in another kiss that's even hotter than the first one, "is for texting me back after I didn't deserve it."

Louis' chest is clenching and a small moan escapes his throat as Harry's tongue laces with his. He tastes like spearmint gum and a slight hint of maple syrup that was maybe leftover from breakfast. He wonders what Harry had for breakfast, if he wakes up and a personal chef has prepared a gourmet meal for him, with a table set in expensive China and more forks than Louis knows what to do with. He wonders what it'd be like to wake up with Harry in the morning—but that thought quickly vanishes like his breath in December when Harry bites down on his lower lip and swipes his tongue across the skin.

"Hello to you, too," Louis laughs when they've parted slightly from each other. "Is that how you're always going to greet me, because I'm so for it." Louis steps back from Harry, feeling suffocated by his presence. He tugs down his—Liam's—shirt and fixes his hair as Harry shakes his out from under an orange beanie.

"Could be," Harry smiles at him. He toes off his shoes and sheds himself of the jacket he's wearing to reveal a tight white shirt stretched across his chest, the sleeves are rolled horribly and Louis instinctively reaches out to fix them and Harry lets him, joking that he can't find his safety pins to secure them.

"Hey Harry," Zayn says as he limps through the living room with an empty glass in his hand. "Just a twisted ankle," he says before Harry can ask and Louis lets out the breath he was holding.

"We're ordering lunch Malik, what do you want?" Louis asks taking another step away from Harry and closer to the couch. He sits and opens his laptop to bring up a new tab, "a burger with the youzhe," he replies with a now full glass of water and new ice pack. "Harry?"

Harry takes a seat next—too close—to Louis on the couch, resting his head on his shoulder and scans the menu. "What is this site? They deliver?" 

"Um, yeah, you've never heard of Seamless? Well I guess when you can just hire people to pick up your food..." It came out a little harsher than Louis intended and he feels Harry flinch and extract himself from Louis' shoulder. "Sorry, it's yeah, just you order from participating joints and they deliver."

"Oh, cool. I guess I'll just have the steak wrap with the avocado...what are you getting?" Louis clicks on what Harry wants and adds it to the order then selects his favorite salad off of the menu, "it's really good and not healthy, don't judge." Louis says when he clicks on it and Harry laughs a little.

"I got it," Harry says putting his hand on Louis' to stop him from grabbing his wallet. His heart momentarily forgets how to function when Harry doesn't automatically lift his hand. "I said I owe you."

"That was coffee and donuts, which if I'm not mistaken were never fulfilled nor delivered to me on a silver platter," Louis responds with a huff.

"Looks like we'll just have to spend a morning together then huh?" Harry says leaning over and kissing the side of Louis' mouth. "Smooth Styles, I'll give you that one."

Zayn suggests that they eat on the rooftop, but he unfortunately couldn't make it up the steps—damn—so it was just Louis and Harry and the cool air against their faces. Louis silently thanked whoever took care of the plants that were up there because they did add a certain ambiance to it all.

"So you just need to fill this out with your name, address, days you want m—them to come in and cleaning instructions," Louis says between bites as he hands a pen to Harry.

"Can I put down like rooms not to go into?" Harry asks scribbling onto the form. "Yes, if you don't want anyone finding your sex dungeon, you can write down like 'stay out of the second door on the left.'" "It's actually on the right," Harry smiles. He's got a piece of avocado in his teeth, but Louis doesn't mention it, it adds to his character.

"Do your maids—is that what they're called?—do they sign like NDAs or anything ya know?" He dips some fries in ketchup and shoves them in his mouth and wipes his hands on his pants, Louis cringes knowing they probably cost a fortune. 

"The hell you hiding in there Styles?" Louis laughs as he takes another bite, "yeah, no one is allowed to talk about anything they find or see while on the job, don't worry." 

"So like how'd you get into this business? Seems really random to own a cleaning service." Harry's question is innocent, but it makes Louis feel like he's on trial for murder at the eleventh hour. He takes a gulp of his water, the condensation making it slip slightly against Harry's glass when he sets his down at the same time.

"Uh," he stutters, "just like started it as a way to make money ya know, put that business degree to work." He gets up grabbing their plates to hopefully segue into another topic after he comes back from putting them in the kitchen. 

He comes back with a pitcher of water and Harry is sprawled out on one of the chairs, His right arm is draped over his eyes and his long legs hang off of the edge while his shirt rides up slightly to expose some of the skin of his stomach. Louis walks up on his left and refills his glass and sets it back on the small table. Harry gently grabs Louis' thigh with his left hand and runs his palm up and down the back of his jeans, curling his fingertips into the fabric and tugging toward himself. Louis' toes stumble slightly on the cement and he puts the pitcher next to Harry's glass so he doesn't drop it on him and Harry pulls his thigh harder — his thumb swipes were thigh meets ass and Louis smiles to himself. "Use your words Styles, didn't they teach you that in prep school?" Louis sarcastically retorts, but he lets his body submit to Harry's pull. "Come're," Harry mildly whines.

"I can't possibly fit on that chair with you, I was cursed with a large ass." 

"I quite like your ass, and I never said you had to fit next to me," Harry counters and tugs at Louis even harder so that he stumbles into Harry's lap, "just swing that leg over and you're good," he laughs. Louis grumbles as he straddles Harry, their hips meeting, and he feels a little faint. "That's better," Harry smiles up at him with crinkly eyes now that his right hand has moved to Louis' waist with his left.

"So am I allowed to inquire about your family? Parents? Siblings? Orphan who gets adopted by a bald old man..." Louis laughs as he plays with Harry's hair. He thinks it's definitely long enough for him to braid or pull into a bun.

"Unfortunately I am  _not_ Annie, but yes to the above. Just a mom....and a step-dad now, too. Older sister." He replies with a low purr when Louis massages his scalp. 

"Is she famous too?" Louis asks

"Nope, she's a teacher....you?"

"Two sisters, still in high school. They're twins. And the usual parentals."

"Are you close?"

"Yeah, pretty close. They'd probably be so jealous of me right now," he laughs and Harry punches him in the stomach.

Louis stops asking about Harry's family when he notices how tense he's gotten. Instead, he leans down and takes Harry's bottom lip into his mouth, hearing the gasp Harry takes when he does so. His body perks up in remembrance of last night, the softness of Harry's lips, the same straddled position—but this time, Louis wasn't going to let them get interrupted. 

As much as Louis is trying to concentrate on Harry's gorgeous mouth and tongue, his mind is pulling him to focus on the hands that have made their way under his shirt, up his back and around to his chest. Louis' position makes it hard for him to explore Harry's body so he settles on playing with his hair or holding onto his jaw where the slight stubble of hair pricks his palms. "Inside?" Harry's gruff voice asks and Louis doesn't miss the way Harry's hips twitch slightly up into his own. "Yeah."

"As much as I'm enjoying seeing you in this Saint Laurent shirt, I'm going to have to ask you to take it off," Harry says with Louis pushed against the frame of the shut door inside Liam's bedroom. Louis' not sure what's hotter, the fact that Harry knows the designer just by looking at a shirt or the fact he wants it off his body— okay, yeah the latter. Louis uses his right hand to push Harry back a few inches and teasingly lifts up the corner of the shirt while making eyes at Harry. This doesn't go over so well because Louis starts cracking up and Harry rolls his eyes at him, then grabs Louis by the bottom of the shirt and pulls it up as hard as he can. Louis yells in surprise as the material covers his face and he flicks it off of himself onto the floor. "That's better," says Harry.

This is actually the first time Louis' allowed himself on Liam's bed, him and Zayn have kept it off limits since they've been there, and holy fuck if it isn't the most comfortable thing he's felt. It's like clouds—and  _oh_ there's a hand on his cock, okay. "Jesus Christ Harry," Louis groans as Harry's fingers fumble with the button on his jeans. All Louis can thinks is, 'don't jizz on the jeans, that shit stains.' "Can I do this?" Harry asks with his mouth to Louis' jaw and his first two fingers on Louis' zipper.

"I mean you're halfway there, so really what's the point in stopping you?"

"Always gotta be a little shit, huh?" Harry growls as he unzips them.

Shutting Louis up is pretty easy and usually involves either really amazing food and/or sex. In this case, it's Harry's mouth meeting his cock for the first time, (hi, enjoy your stay). "Fuccck, oh my god," Okay so it doesn't shut him up entirely, but it does reduce him to only a few choice one-syllabled words.

If Louis was a terrible person he's somehow find a way to record Harry giving him head, not to blackmail him or anything, but to hold onto for those times he's feeling really shitty about himself and needs a reminder that one of the most famous popstars in the world had his mouth around him. Louis doesn't even want to think about where or how Harry learned to do half the things he's doing with his tongue — everything he does is literally perfect and Louis only feels slightly bad that Zayn can probably hear his mantra of "Harryharryharry, yes, fuck," but whatever, he's heard worse.

His fingers are tangled in Harry's hair and every time he tugs, Louis swears that Harry whimpers, so he does it again just to see. Louis can't help but to reach a hand down to hold the base of his cock while Harry bobs his head, wetting the edges of Louis' fingers with his spit. He squeezes himself hard, trying to release some of the tension and pushes his hips up just a tad. Harry gags, but keeps going and looks up at Louis with a small glare, "sorry," he mutters, "getting there."

Harry pops off and Louis feels the sting of his teeth in the flesh of his thigh, a hiss escapes his mouth and he pulls Harry's hair with his right hand, "too bad that feels good," Harry laughs. _Fuck._ Shortly after Harry gets his mouth back on Louis, he does this swirl thing with his tongue and Louis sees stars as he chokes on a stifled moan and comes.

When he looks at Harry again, his cheeks are red and lips plump, the hair sticking to his forehead is damp and messy. "Jesus Christ..." Louis huffs. "I prefer Harry," he smiles making his way up to lie next to Louis where he spends some time kissing his shoulder and collarbone. Louis brings his hand to the right side of Harry's waist, dipping his thumb between skin and denim, "I'm dying to get my hands on you," he admits.

"Not stopping you."

"Not even a little? You strike me as a tease."

"I am, usually, but not when I really want someone," Harry says with a casual tone, his lips still pressing onto Louis' skin.

"Okay then," Louis starts and Harry pulls away to sit up on his knees. Louis watches his fingers unzip his jeans, his eyes are met with hair and he wonders if Harry always goes without underwear. As dumb as it was, he liked that Harry didn't shave completely and left not just his happy trail, but a decent amount of hair, it was a good reminder that he wasn't blowing a teenager. His shirt was taken off in a haste and Louis watches him struggle to peel the super-tight jeans down his legs. He somehow still makes it hot even when they get stuck on his ankles.

"I don't even know your favorite color," Louis jokes as he bites his way down Harry's hips toward his pelvis, "white," Harry responds, his lower stomach shudders when Louis grazes his fingertips on the area and presses kisses to the skin above Harry's cock. He takes a minute to stare at him remembering feeling Harry pressed against him last night, it did him no justice. There was only the slightest curve and Louis' mouth actually waters when he saw the small bead of wetness at the tip.

Harry's speaking voice could make Louis melt no matter what, but the way he sounded when his cock was at the back of his throat was on a completely new level. He didn't hold back for anything, never suppressed a moan or held back on any variation of Louis' name attached to a curse. Louis would rethink buying his album if it was 14 songs of: "Lou—shit, god that feels so good," Harry's hips were moving in slow circles as the string of words kept pouring out of his mouth. Louis took him down more and held still for a moment so Harry was the one doing the work and he sneaked a peek up at him. His eyes were shut tight, face red and sweaty, his bottom lip was pulled between his teeth and as white as his knuckles that were fisting the sheets. "Pull off I'm gonna come," Harry warns. Louis feels his hands in his hair pulling him, but Louis shakes his head and presses his palms to Harry's hips so he can't pull out. "Fuck...okay, so close." Even with Harry's faced buried into the mattress, his moaning rings throughout the room as his orgasm finally hits.

Louis swallows quickly — he's not the one to savor _that_ taste. He spends a second licking at Harry's softening cock, nipping the head and then moves his way up his long torso until Harry's heavy breathing is in his face. Harry shakily lifts his head and pecks Louis on the lips; he cringes knowing Harry can taste himself. "Shut up, doesn't bother me," he whispers and pulls Louis into another long kiss. It's lazy and slow and no real effort was made, but Harry's tongue felt so nice even when his lips felt numb.

* * *

"So what made you decide to want to be a popstar?" Louis asks while they're tangled on the couch watching something with Zayn.

"I just love to entertain people and I had a knack for singing, so I thought I should give it a go." It's probably not the best answer, but Harry didn't want to talk about himself or his job, he did it far too often.

"Worked out for ya, huh? Are you touring this summer?" Zayn asks from across the far end of the couch.

"Yeah, starts in July. Come to think of it, rehearsals begin Monday," Harry says rubbing his hand up and down Louis' arm. He thinks he could sit here forever, with Louis between his legs, his head resting on Harry's chest. They just sort of fit perfectly together.

"Zayn wants to be your opening act that's why he asked," Louis teases and Harry blocks the pillow that was hurled their way after his comment. "You sing?" asks Harry while he moves to get more comfortable, while keeping Louis close.

"Eh, used to, but like R&B, not pop," replies Zayn.

"I want to hear, send me a demo." Harry feels Louis squeeze his hand so he looks down and Louis' got the biggest smile on his face, "I mean it," he says reaching to the pen on the coffee table. He scribbles his email address on a napkin and tells Zayn again to send it since he really didn't seem like he believed the words coming out of his mouth.

His phone buzzes from the table and he can see Sara's name on the screen with the time, 3:16. He reaches for it and replies to her text, then sends one to his driver to come get him and sets it back on the table.

"Gotta jet?" Louis asks stretching his legs out from where he's sat between Harry's.

"Is that okay? Work stuff, sorry," Harry pouts. 

"No, it's fine, you're a busy man Styles."

A few minutes later they peel off the couch and Harry gathers the few things he brought with him. He'd only been there two hours, but it seemed like longer. "Hey," he says lightly grabbing at Louis' elbow when Louis opens the door for him, "I don't want you to think I'm just like using you for sex or something." He bites his lip searching Louis' face. 

"I don't think that, and it's really okay if you were," Louis runs his hand through his hair then shoves his hands in his front pockets. 

"I'm not and it's not okay," Harry presses.

"Maybe I should just read your autobiography so we can skip that whole getting to know each other phase," Louis laughs but Harry's not a hundred percent sure he's kidding.

"Can I take you out to dinner Monday night? No sex, just a real date?"

"Hm. No sex?" Louis asks tapping his chin and scrunching his face. "I'll have to think about it, popstar."

"You're a jerk," Harry says.

" _I'm_ the jerk? Second day in a row you're leaving me after—" Harry cuts him off with a deep kiss where he can feel Louis' entire body relax into it. "I'll be out front at 8 p.m. Monday, don't be late."

"Maybe I have plans," Louis retorts with a half-grin. "You don't," comes Zayn's voice from the living room and Harry sends a quick smile his way. He kisses Louis one last time and yells a goodbye to Zayn and is on his way out the door.

He's surprised when there's a small group of girls outside of Louis' apartment building — someone must have spotted him going in, he wonders how long they've been waiting. They all start to scream and run toward him as he steps out of the revolving door. iPhones and other cameras are shoved into his face and he feels his arms being pulled in both directions. "Harry! Who were you visiting? Do you have a girlfriend?" A male's voice shouts over the girls' shrieks. Harry recognizes the pap, but ignores him and focuses on trying to get out of the group.

"If you guys just chill for a second I'll take photos," Harry says trying to take charge of the situation calming them down. Luckily, when he goes out without his body guard, his driver does double duty and he shows up right on time and tugs Harry out of the group and into the backseat with minimal scratches. "Home, please," he says suddenly drained of energy.

 

"Why isn't she answering?" Lily pouts from her position in Harry's lap on the floor. They've tried calling Emma four times and her full voicemail greets them each time. "I don't know sweetie, maybe she can't hear it." It's not too late in London, and Sara said she texted Emma to let her know they would call today and to be available.

"Lily why don't we have bath time and try calling her after? You got really sweaty today," Sara chimes from her position on the couch.

"NO!" she screams and Harry puts his finger to his ear, "I WANT TO TALK TO MUMMY!" She yells even louder while stomping her feet on the hardwood floor. Harry drops his phone and wraps his arms around her trying to shush her as the tears start to flow and the tantrum escalates. 

"Honey, I need you to stop screaming," Harry rationalizes, but she's having none of it. Her head knocks back into his mouth and he can taste blood along with strands of her hair.

"CALL HER AGAIN!" She screams trying to reach for Harry's phone. He reaches his leg out to kick it away and Sara leaps up from her position and grabs it setting it out of reach on the table. "CALL HER RIGHT NOW!" Harry wants to cry too, he's not sure if it's normal four-year-old behavior or if his daughter really is a brat, but he's not going to give into her.

"We're not calling her until you calm down," he says harshly making her flail in his arms even more, she breaks free and runs straight for where Harry's phone is sat on the coffee table. Grabbing it, she tries to open the home screen, getting frustrated with the passcode and throws it to the ground screaming her head off.

"Lily! No!" Harry lunges for the phone, and sees it only has a slight scratch but whatever, it's just a phone. "Go to your room RIGHT NOW!" He yells once he's on his feet. "GO! Don't look at Miss Sara, she's not going to help you. GO LILY!" The little girl is full on crying now, her face red and wet as she runs to her room sobbing. The door slams shut and Harry deflates onto the couch with his face in his hands. He's never yelled at her like that before and he feels terrible for making her cry, the frustration was just too much to deal with.

"I'll go talk to her," Sara politely says.

"No, she's my daughter, just...it's fine. You're good for the day Sara," Harry says with a sniffle. She rubs his back, then the couch moves with her weight. He doesn't get up until the door leading to Sara's end of the apartment is shut.

Once composed, Harry tries again. This time, Emma answers.

"Oh Harry, hi sorry! I'm awfully busy right now. Is Lily okay?" Her soft voice says through the phone.

"Busy? It's almost ten over there. She just had a meltdown because she wanted to talk to you," he says back with a slight judgement to his tone.

"We're filming. Hold on—yes, double mocha—sorry, let me talk to her," she demands.

When he walks in her room, Lily's face down on her bed still crying. He sits down rubbing her back, "mommy's on the phone Lil," he coos. She turns over still frowning and puts out her hand, Harry puts the phone on speaker and hands it to her.

"Aw baby are you crying? What did mummy say about crying?" Emma's voice echoes.

"Pretty girls don't cry," Lily sobs. 

"That's bullshit, she's allowed to cry Em," Harry says frustrated and Emma scolds him for cursing.

"I have a surprise for you my Lily," she says in a chipper voice. "I'll be flying to New York soon for press, I can't wait to see you!"

Harry grabs the phone from Lily's hand and turns it off speaker and puts it to his ear. Lily screams and leaps at Harry, trying to pry it out of his hand. "Isn't that something you should have discussed with me first?"

"I wanted to surprise her, it'll only be for a few days. She is  _my_  daughter."

"She's mine too and you just had her for half the year—Lily sit down—plus, she's coming with me on tour so we might not even be here," he adds.

"Oh didn't you get the letter? You can't leave New York with her anymore, it's not good for her development to be moved around the country like that. So you either stay or she comes back to London."

Harry gets to his feet fuming with anger, "WHAT?!" He yells into the phone and walks out of Lily's room. He can hear her footsteps behind him yelling to give the phone back, but he ignores her. "Emma that was not what we agreed on! You knew my schedule!"

"Well, Brett and I thought—"

"Brett is not her fucking father, I am!" Harry screams. He sees Sara come out of her room and swoop up Lily and bring her flailing body into her room and shut the door. The TV clicks on and the volume increases. "You can't just decide that without talking to me first!"

"The lawyer sent you a message about it, and when you didn't responded in the given time, my decision was favored," her voice says calmly. "We must have sent it to your LA house by accident, I never know where you are these days."

Harry can't breathe, his chest is tight, head dizzy as he sits on the couch. He never thought in a million years that Emma would do something like this. They agreed early on to make Lily's childhood as normal and stress-free as possible. But now, everything was crashing down and he may lose his daughter for good. It must have been one of her stupid A-list friends who've gone through six divorces to suggest this stupid idea.

"I can't fucking believe you Emma!" He says exasperated by the situation.

"I just want what's best for Lily and I don't think traveling the country at that young of an age is good for her."

"You just want sole custody of our daughter, admit it Emma! She's fine on tour, she's gone before and loves it," cries Harry.

"Feel free to have your lawyer contact mine to discuss it, I'm done talking about it. I have to go. Let me say goodnight to Lily." 

"Fuck you Emma," Harry says ending the call and throwing his phone onto the couch.

Harry takes a moment to cry to himself, making sure that the girls can't hear him. He wipes his eyes and gets a drink of water, his hands shaking as he lifts the glass to his lips. His head is hurting too much to hear the footsteps moments later.

"Daddy?"

Lily is at his feet looking up at him with wide eyes that are dry of tears. She has her favorite stuffed animal in her arms—a penguin named Sam—stretching it out to Harry. "I'm sorry Daddy. Don't cry."

Of course this makes Harry cry more and he puts his glass down and reaches his arms out to Lily. She opens hers and he lifts her up, swinging her legs around his waist. "I'm sorry too, baby, Daddy didn't mean to yell, I love you," he says between sobs burying his face in her neck. She does the same.

"Can we take a bath now Daddy? Can Sam come, too?" She asks placing the toy on Harry's shoulder and walking him across the skin. "Sam is always welcomed, come on honey."

With Lily still wrapped around his waist, Harry walks them into her bathroom and turns on the bath faucet. He finds her favorite (and insanely expensive) white Lily bubble bath and pours a generous amount into the tub. Stripping them both down he tests the water first then lifts her into the warm water and follows placing Sam on the edge of the tub.

"Can we be pirates today?" She asks as she covers her jaw in bubbles. "Argh!" Harry replies while covering one eye with his hand and curving his pointer finger like a hook. Lily giggles and splashes water at him, "Don't make me walk the plank Captain!" Harry pleads. "Off with yer head matey!" She giggles in a mock pirate voice and pours water over Harry's head with the bucket that her bath toys are kept in.

They get out when Lily complains of being too pruney. Harry wraps her up in her favorite  _TMNT_  hooded bath towel—Leonardo is her favorite—and he grabs one of her princess towels for himself, it's the only one large enough to wrap around his waist.

By seven o'clock, the two of them are on the couch after eating their dinner of bow-tie pasta and sauce. Lily yawns struggling to keep her eyes open while Harry puts on  _The Little Mermaid_ for them. She makes it to Triton finding Ariel's weird stash of human junk before her eyes close for good. Harry finishes the movie and turns off the TV. Not wanting to wake her, he stays curled up on the couch and shuts his eyes too letting her steady breathing and small murmurs put him to sleep.

They spend all day Sunday together. Harry gives Sara the day off and tells her to keep his phone hostage. He convinces Niall to let them go to the park together. Typical with Niall, he directs them to one in New Jersey in a retirement community where no one will recognize Harry. He lets her play for hours while he chats with some of the older folks who are enjoying the spring weather. They congratulate him on having such a gorgeous daughter and never once question where her mom is. he only panics once, when a young girl is walking with her grandpa while Lily and him are playing, but she doesn't look over at them and Harry sighs and goes back to paying attention to his girl. Lily even gets Harry's bodyguard to play with them and Harry laughs when she makes him twirl in circles while she teaches them ballet.

If he could freeze this moment of normalcy, he'd live in it forever. 

* * *

As per Harry's instructions, Louis' "cleaning team" was to start Monday morning. He was their first house of the day and Louis felt slightly squeamish going into his house. He regrets ever mentioning it to Harry.

His building was amazing, the marble entrance was probably the most gorgeous thing Louis' ever seen. He talked with the front desk and the man brought them to the elevator. On the way up to the top floor, Louis' heart was beating uncontrollably. What if Harry was home? How was he going to explain this. They followed the man a few feet out of the elevator to a bright red door that he unlocked.

"Damn," Zayn says once Louis' shut the door. "I thought Payne had a mansion, this has got to be twice the size, and price."

"Yeah, well just go about it like it was anyone else," Louis says trying not to look around the place. "Don't go into the," he looks at the instructions, "fourth and sixth door up the small set of stairs," Louis says.

"Got it boss! I got the master too, so I won't ruin that for you," he jokes. "Just in case I find a garbage full of used condoms," he laughs again.

Louis rolls his eyes and makes his way from the foyer toward the living room.

Nothing is particularly dirty, just a little dusty. He notices Harry's removed some frames off of a shelf, but doesn't think much of it and assumes Harry really is that paranoid about people stealing personal items. The place really is gorgeous and Louis feels like he's cheating seeing it without Harry here. Just another thing he'll have to fake when he invites him over — if he ever does.

While he's getting something sticky off one of the kitchen counters, his heart stops as the front door unlocks and swings open. He backs up out of view but peeks around to see a woman who's probably in her early 30s step into the room, arms full of bags. He only lets out half of a relieved sigh when there's no Harry, but he stays tense as he hears her moving around.

"Oh my," she says, "I totally forgot you were coming today, please don't mind me," she yells when Louis sees her almost trip over some buckets.

Louis goes back to cleaning and texts Zayn.

**We need to get out NOW!!!!**

**Not finished. gimme a min.**

**Hurry**

**Almost done. shit she's in here.**

Louis hears voices and he starts to panic as he quickly puts his supplies away. A scribbled note next to the coffee pot catches his attention. It has today's date and the name Sara written down and the time 8:15 p.m. then a message he tries not to read, but his glance saw the words, "home late, "thanks," and "best." He's assuming the woman Zayn is talking to is Sara and the note is about their date tonight.

He finishes putting his supplies away and almost runs right into Zayn, "let's go, now!" he whisper shouts and Zayn nods.

They make it out and back to the car where Louis releases the breath he's been holding. "She's his personal assistant, live-in," Zayn says as the drive to the next apartment. "Sara, real nice."

"But now she knows you! So does Harry, you were supposed to be invisible!" Louis says angrily.

"Can't be invisible when I'm scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees and she walks in, it's fine man," He says. "My hair was different, she won't recognize me again." As if that statement is supposed to ease Louis. 

Louis' calmer as the day goes on and he gets back in the groove of work. They go to five more places, taking them well into the middle of the afternoon. While scrubbing crayon art off of the wall in the last client's house, Louis' phone buzzes.

**Just wanted to say your team did a great job : )**

Louis simultaneously smiles and frowns. What would Harry say if he knew it was Louis who cleaned his house? He'd never speak to him again. Maybe at dinner he'd finally reveal what's been going on. He really can't keep dragging Harry along like this.

**I'll let them know.**

**see you in T-minus 3 hours : )**

**Are you now?**

**8pm sharp mister. wear your best frock**

**hm this night seems to call for that lacy underwear then eh?**

**: o**

**Ha!**

**don't play like that i'm in the middle of rehearsals...there are people around!!!**

**Oh? Do we have a kink for that then?**

**I'd prefer you in no underwear but if lace is a choice i'm not going to complain**

Well, that's a new layer to Harry's personality that Louis was not expecting. He's not sure he wants to quit just yet with this. He sets his rag down on the counter and sits against the wall.

**Play your cards right and you just might find out**

**you're killing me Lou always gotta do this to me**

**Do what??? I'm innocent here.**

_Oh_ , that. Harry attached a photo of his blue joggers with a clear, hard outline of his cock. Louis smiles to himself knowing he can do that to Harry with just a few texts, but his mind lingers on the word, "always."

 **Always huh?** he presses  **ps nice shorts, love the color**

**i hate you and yes ALWAYS. feel like a fckin teenager ever since i met you**

**Oh do go on popstar...**

Louis watches the bubble of an incoming text pop up and disappear a few times and laughs thinking about Harry trying to type a witty response. He's been good with keeping up with Louis' remarks, but doesn't have nearly as amazing comebacks he does, he's curious as to what he'll try and come up with this time.

**every time i'm in the shower i think of you in there with me pressed against the wall all wet and breathless begging for me to let you come.**

Alright, so that was not the response Louis was expecting, nor did he think Harry had it in him to sext. His dick gives a slight twitch in his jeans and he tells it "no" and runs his hand down his cock. It was time for Louis to step up his game.

 **I want to taste every inch of your skin.** Is the only thing Louis can formulate since all of the blood in his brain has made it's way south.

**you can.**

Louis barely makes it through the end of the work day after his and Harry's little conversation. In order to remind himself who he  _really_ is, Louis decides to go back to their Brooklyn apartment and take a very cold shower — which is relatively easy since their hot water sucks. His internal debate regarding if he should wear his own clothes or not ends in him dressing in his favorite pair of black jeans and a dark blue buttoned up Burberry shirt rolled at the elbows — it was his first big purchase when him and Zayn landed their first A-list client and he's barely worn it. He opted for dark brown brogues and ditched the socks.

While back at Liam's, he did his hair and shaved, then paced around the living room until Zayn told him to calm down. "I need to come clean tonight," He sighs as he fiddles with his sleeves.

"You really like him don't you?" Zayn asks from behind his laptop. Louis turns to him and bites the nail of his thumb and nods.

"Yeah...just like we really...connect...ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. He seems to feel the same."

"You don't know that," Louis fires back switching to his other thumb nail.

"It's pretty obvious," Zayn argues.

Louis jumps when his phone rings and Zayn laughs at him. 

"Downstairs," Harry says and he hangs up before Louis can say anything.

"Good luck, text me if you need me to come get you." Louis runs over to Zayn hugs him and kisses his temple.

The door to the SUV opens when Louis comes out of the front door, the man nods at him and Louis slides in as the door shuts. Harry's lips are on his before he can even get a greeting out. Harry's cologne fills Louis' nose as they kiss, it's a little sweet and spicy and makes Louis think of a bonfire.

"Hi," he whispers. 

"You look amazing," Harry says leaning back and eying Louis up and down, "gorgeous."

Louis looks down and bites his lip, flustered by the compliment. He's not used to anyone paying him attention the way Harry does. "You too, you look like you just stepped off a runway."

Harry scoots close to Louis and intertwines their fingers and gives his hand a squeeze. Harry's palm is a little sweaty making Louis think he's just as nervous as he is. How someone who performs in front of thousands of people could be nervous on a date boggles his mind, but it also makes him feel special.

"So how are we going to do this date thing without you being seen?" asks Louis. It didn't register fully that they'd be going out in public together until the car stopped in front of a dimly lit building.

"Secret location, members only, they keep their mouths shut," Harry replies leaning over to kiss Louis on the cheek. "I thought it all out."

The restaurant was fairly small, but the extravagance wasn't lacking. Chandeliers as large as semi-truck tires hung from the ceiling and velvety crimson walls welcomed the pair. It was quiet sans a few hushed conversations between guests who paid them no attention and clinking of utensils on plates.

"Follow me please Mr. Styles," an older woman dressed in all black said. Harry reached for Louis' hand as he moved and Louis slotted his fingers through Harry's. There was something almost liberating about doing that in pubic, like running naked through the rain. They walked up a spiral staircase to the only tabled nestled in the corner away from the view on the patrons below them. Louis slid into the booth first and then Harry. Two glasses of champagne were set on the table before Louis' butt touched the seat.

"Harry this is too much," Louis says flattening the red cloth napkin across his thighs. "I was honestly good with like Shake Shack," he jokes.

Harry's staring at him when he flickers his eyes to meet his. He has a look on his face that Louis can't place, but it sort of looks the way Zayn's dog back home does when the two of them used to get him high after school, except Harry has this wonderful smile on his face that accentuates his dimples. "Why are you looking at me like that?" 

Harry lets out a breathy laugh, but doesn't answer. He grabs his glass instead followed by Louis and clinks them together. "To tonight! And learning more about each other," laughs Harry. "Cheers," Louis says and sips the champagne. Bubbles dance on his tongue and he realizes it's exactly how his stomach feels every time he catches Harry looking at him. He takes another sip and smiles.

"Good evening gentlemen," their waiter, a man in his late 40s says. "The chef has prepared your courses this evening and will be out momentarily with your first dish. "Can I bring you anything in the meantime?"

"Just the bottle of this," Harry says lifting his glass and the man nods and walks off. Louis can't even pronounce the name on the label when the server comes back to pop open a fresh bottle, but he can tell it is very, very expensive. He refills their glasses and sets the bottle down in ice and walks back to the kitchen.

"I can't imagine what our second date is going to be like if this is the first," Louis laughs trying to dissolve his nerves.

"Well that's up to you, if you'd like." Harry says sipping from his glass.

"I'd very much like that, although I'm not sure I can compete with this romance."

Moments later a man in a white chef's jacket comes out with two plates, "ah 'arry, so lovely to see you again," he says in a thick French accent as he sets the plates down. Harry stands up shakes the man's hand and hugs him with a pat on the back. "Christophe, my man, thank you for squeezing us in tonight, how's the family?"

"Very well, very well, who's this?" He asks pointing to Louis. "This is Louis, he's—" "Oh no need, no need, 'ello Louis," the man says emphasizing his name. Louis stands up and shakes his hand firmly, "Please eat, and enjoy. These are seared scallops with a white wine sauce."

"I feel like I need to Instagram this," Louis jokes as he picks up his fork. The plate is immaculate and one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen. Harry nudges him and giggles.

"You're cute, now eat."

Holy balls. Okay Louis' had scallops before, but these, these are buttery and melt in his mouth. It's an explosion of flavor that his taste buds have never experience and if he lets a low moan out, Harry doesn't say anything. While their plates are cleared and glasses refilled, they spend time talking in a low whisper even though no one else is around.

Louis gets Harry to open up more about his life and work. He talks about his job like it's any other job except for the obvious. "It's not normal to wake up to girls outside your window who've waited there for hours, but it is a job and I try very hard to stay out of the celebrity aspect of it. I hate the word famous," he says. Louis thinks he understands. "It's like when you're famous, that's all you are, you're nothing else and I hate that so much. I'm so much more than that." he continues. After some prodding, Harry lets Louis listen to a few new demos Harry keeps on his phone. They're amazing and Louis gets so lost in Harry's voice that he doesn't notice the main course being set down in front of him. It takes the scent of roasted potatoes to make him blink and look down.

This plate was even better than the first. Louis thought it was just a normal steak, until he bit into it and he's pretty sure he orgasmed right then and there. "Harry....did you try this, holy fuck," he says with his mouth full. Harry laughs at him and pats his mouth with his napkin and sets his fork and knife down.

"You've never had Kobe steak? Louis...how are you living?" 

"I didn't even think it was sold in the US!" he exclaims.

"Christophe is one of the few chefs who's able to serve it, but I fell in love with while touring in Japan."

"Well, I've never been to Japan thank you very much, wow...I think I'm in love with this steak." Louis says savoring each bite.

"Ouch," Harry says holding his heart, "competing with a piece of meat, never thought I'd see that coming."

Although his words were playful, something inside Louis' stomach flipped and he tries to suppress it with alcohol and more food.

* * *

Dinner was going well, Harry thought. He was enjoying the food immensely, but couldn't keep his eyes off of Louis. There was this new hunger inside of him, one that food couldn't satisfy. He's never been this compatible with someone before, hitting it off right away with Louis took him by surprise, but when he decided to just go with it, it turned into something amazing.

He'd dated around a little, with other closeted singers or actors who wouldn't run to the press, but there was something missing with all of them. Louis just had a completely different perspective on life — like what it was like to be normal. Something no one Harry dated knew. Even Harry himself struggled with retaining the last shred of normality. Being with Louis reminded him of what it was like before anyone cared what he did or who he dated or what he ate for lunch. Which is why he made his next move.

"Let's go."

"What?" Louis said with wide eyes and the fork halfway in his mouth.

"This is so dumb, this isn't me, please let's go." Harry says frustrated. He gets up out of the booth and walks to the kitchen. When he comes back out, Louis is sitting at the edge of the booth with furrowed brows and pursed lips.

"Did I do something wrong? I'm so sorry."

"No, god no," Harry says leaning down and kissing him, "I want to take you somewhere else, please?" 

"Okay?!" Harry grabs his hand and they walk down the steps. "What about the bill?"

"Already taken care of," Harry says walking to the front door. They release hands as the woman from earlier opens the door and the SUV is already waiting for them with an open door.

"Where are we going?" Louis asks with a hint of panic in his voice. Harry ignores him and leans over the seat and whispers to the driver. "You'll see." Harry says kissing his cheek. 

They only go a few blocks until the driver pulls over in front of a Duane Reade and Harry hops out without saying a word to Louis. He walks in and is immediately recognized by the young girl behind the counter. "Please wait like two minutes to tweet, I'm begging you," he says and runs toward the coolers. He walks back up to the counter with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. "Do you have spoons?"

"Uh, no...gimme a second though," she says running out from behind the counter and toward the back of the store. She comes back a minute later with two spoons, "from our kitchen, they're clean I promise, keep them...$5.56." Harry hands her a twenty and leaves without the change.

He tosses the bag in the front seat and gets back in. Louis is typing on his phone and looks up at him with a raised brow, "we're good, thanks for stopping." The car drives away and Louis doesn't ask.

"Are you kidnapping me?" Louis finally asks fifteen minutes or so after they left the drugstore.

"It's crossed my mind," Harry says seriously, "but not, I'm not. Well I am for a little, if that's okay with you?"

"Fine by me," Louis says stretching his legs. He puts his hand on Harry's thigh and Harry covers his hand with his own and squeezes.

"It's so pretty at night, I love it."

"Yeah, busy as hell though too," replies Louis as he stares out the window. "I know where you're taking me," he turns and smiles at Harry.

"You do?" Harry pouts.

"Mhm. I know exactly where I am, but I'll act surprised. You can cover my eyes and everything and exclaim, 'look!' as you point to the bridge. I can act, I got this," Louis bites his lower lip with a laugh then leans over to kiss Harry's jaw.

"Well fine then, party pooper. Gotta ruin everything." Harry really didn't think Louis would know this area. But he seems to always underestimate him.

"Zayn and I used to come to this park after school and get high," Louis laughs as they settle on the grass with a towel that was in the back of the car.

"Louis!" Harry squeals and Louis tackles him down against the fabric.

"Was a terrible kid, got in lots of trouble." Harry pushes his head and lips out and Louis pecks him and jumps off of him with a laugh.

There were only a few people around this late at night on a weekday, Harry was hoping on that. Plus, it was just dark enough that you could only make out silhouettes and not faces. 

"What's in the bag?" Louis asks. Harry pulls out the ice cream and spoons watching the smile beam from Louis' face. "Mint Chocolate Cookie! My favorite!" Louis says grabbing a spoon and ripping off the plastic and lid.

"Is that steak still ahead of me now?" Harry smiles as he picks up his own spoon.

"Mmmm, yeah, I think you screwed yourself and fell to third after the ice cream." Louis says with a layer across his lips. Harry licks his own and leans forward swiping his tongue over Louis' lip, "tastes good." he whispers.

"What if someone sees?" Louis asks dunking his spoon in again.

"No one is paying attention," Harry says opening his mouth for Louis. The ice cream hits his tongue in a sweet surprise and he closes his mouth around the spoon and "mmms."

"That's straight up porn Harry," Louis says pulling the spoon out of his mouth, "disgusting." 

Harry swallows and wipes his mouth on the back of his hand. Louis' already looking at him when their eyes meet. "I was trying to impress you earlier," he admits. He pulls on some of the grass and squishes it between his fingers, "I don't want you thinking I'm some rich asshole who eats like that — I don't."

"You don't need to impress me Harry," Louis says offering up another spoonful. Harry takes it and offers one to Louis. "I like you for you...I'm not after any of that fancy shit."

"I just...I don't know what you're used to ya know? you're so down-to-earth, but like I should have known, but..." Louis cutes him off before he can continue.

"Harry. Fuck...there's something I need to tell you." Louis says in a serious voice.

"Oh shit. Are you and Zayn? Like do you?" Harry panics.

"No! Fuck, no we're not and no I don't like...I don't have a boyfriend or something!"

"Oh god, shit, okay. Sorry." Harry says setting down his spoon. "What then?"

Louis gets to his feet and dusts off his pants. He walks a few paces to his left then back over to Harry as he runs his hands through his hair a million times.

"Louis please...what?" Harry begs.

* * *

So this was it, Louis was going to come clean to Harry and this little fantasy would crumble and end. He could do this, he just had to say it and let it stop eating him up inside.

"I've been lying to you," he finally says.

It was out. He'd done it. Harry didn't move.

"What? What do you mean? Louis..." 

"I've been lying to you," he says again this time tears threaten his eyes. "I'm not...I'm not rich. I don't live in that fucking apartment. I'm from Brooklyn and live in a rundown apartment with Zayn with a door that barely shuts. I was trying to impress _you_ and it got out of control."

Harry doesn't speak. He stands up with shaky legs and puts about ten feet between them. "I don't understand..."

The look on Harry's face is enough to break Louis' heart into a million pieces. His bottom lip is trembling slightly even though Louis can tell he's trying to hide it and his body has gone stiff. He wants to run. Run as fast as he can away from Harry and away from this situation. But his feet stay planted like they're cemented to the ground.

"When I met you, I didn't think it would turn into anything. Into  _this_." Louis says motioning between them. "I didn't think you'd give me the time of day if you knew who I really was...what I didn't  _have_. I—the apartment I've been in is my friend Liam's he's a soccer player and in Spain training. Nothing in that house is mine."

Harry doesn't move closer to him, but sits back down and puts his head between his knees.

"And..." the next part would be the hardest for Louis to say, more for his ego than anything, "I do own the cleaning business, but it's not what I made it out to be. I..me and Zayn...it's just us...we do it all, there's no team. We do have famous clients and stuff, but yeah, I'm not technically a CEO. We operate out of a van...it's just the two of us."

Harry doesn't say anything.

"Harry I'm sorry. Everything else, my feelings for you, everything is real...I just, I wanted you to like me, but knew if you saw the real me, it wouldn't be enough."

"I don't care," Harry says with a sniffle and Louis' heart drops to his stomach.

"I'm just, I'm going to call a taxi...I'll pay you back for dinner, for anything...Harry I'm sorry." Louis cries. He squeezes his eyes shut feeling a warm tear run down his cheek, he wipes it away as if it was a disease. "God I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you days ago."

Harry gets to his feet as Louis starts to walk, "I don't care who you are," Harry says loudly. "You think that's going to make me fucking run? I've dated worse."

Louis looks at him and Harry's smiling...he's literally beaming from cheek to cheek like a crazy person and Louis thinks he's in some weird alternate universe, until it clicks.

"You knew..." Louis says walking back over to Harry with caution. "How long have you known?"

Harry's smile gets wider and he extends his hand for Louis to take. "A week or so maybe...I uh," he blushes, "I Googled you and it was pretty easy from there since your Facebook is public."

"You asshole!" Louis screams with a laugh as he slaps Harry, "I've been fucking beating myself up over this and you knew!"

"Good! You deserve it you dick!" Harry says grabbing Louis' flailing arms. "I was wondering how long it was going to take. You think I don't know who Liam Payne is? I sang the national anthem at their games a few times, and I'm an avid fan. You'd know that if you read my autobiography!" He jokes.

"So? That doesn't mean anything..."

He's laughing now and pulling Louis into his chest and kissing all over his face. "Lou, I've been inside that apartment on more than one occasion, might have been drunk occasions, but I'd recognize that gaudy phallic statue anywhere that he keeps next to the TV."

"I hate you so much right now," Louis sulks as he lets Harry kiss him. "So much."

"No you don't," Harry sing-says. "Doesn't that feel good...now can we finish this melting ice cream?" 

"How..." Louis whines as he tries to process what just happened.

Harry finally gets him to sit back down under his arm and he feeds him a few scoops of ice cream. He's still speechless and utterly confused and very embarrassed.

"Thank you for cleaning my house though, A+ job for real," Harry chortles as he licks the spoon. "My bathroom was so sparkly — and that lavender on my pillow was a nice touch."

"That was Zayn..." Louis sulks as he takes a giant scoop. "I refused to go into your bedroom. We met Sara though..."

"Oh?" Louis' not sure which statement this is referring to. "Was she alone?"

"Yeah? Would she not be?" Louis questions.

"Well, she's a live-in assistant, so she'll bring her girlfriend over sometimes," Harry says quickly. 

"Oh, okay."

They eat the whole melted pint and lie back to look up at the Brooklyn Bridge and squint for stars. The wind is picking up and Louis shivers. Harry's right there to pull him in tighter and rub his arm. "Is this helping? We can go?"

"No, let's stay." Louis says turning from his back to his side. He waits for Harry to do the same and runs his hand down his jaw to his chin, swiping his thumb over Harry's bottom lip. Harry kisses it as it passes over the skin. 

Louis looks around real quick to make sure no eyes are on them and he leans forward to press their lips together. Harry's hand causes him to shiver as he moves it up his leg to rest on his hip where he squeezes his shirt. Louis scoots closer to Harry with each kiss, slotting his leg between Harry's thighs. It's a pretty uncomfortable position to be in as his neck strains to stay up right, but he doesn't care — nothing really matters right now.

Until the first flash goes off.

* * *

Harry's never moved so fast in his life, he jumps up so quickly from where they'e lying that Louis falls back against the towel.

"Fuck!" He looks around and spots the pap about fifty feet away. "Nick...man, come on..." he knows this guy, he's always stalking him and Harry knows he was being careless, but he thought this late at night and with no mention of his whereabout, that they'd be fine.

"Harry my boy, lovely evening..." the man grins this awful smile.

Harry's bodyguard is there in seconds and Harry doesn't waste his breath asking why he didn't see the pap coming.

"How much do you want? 100k? What's gonna take?" Harry asks.

He quickly looks behind him to see Louis standing wide-eyed.

"Ha!" Nick laughs, "these photos could send my fucking grandchildren to Ivy League and I ain't even got kids,'' he spits.

"Half a million? Will that shut you up?" Harry snarls back.

Harry has always feared this would happen. That he'd be forced out against his own will. He knows this is his fault, that they shouldn't have been this open, but he thought they were safe this late at night.

"Ya know what..." Louis' voice comes from behind Harry and it's darker than anything he's ever heard from him before. It'd be sexy if it wasn't for their current situation.

"What?" Nick instigates, "you his boyfriend? What's your name so I get the caption right?"

"I think," Louis hisses as he closes the gap between himself and the pap, "you need to fucking leave and go back to whatever shitty part of Staten Island your greasy ass came from and get a real fucking job," on the last two words Louis grabs the man's camera from him and runs about a hundred feet back. It's so quick Harry almost misses it. And the pap is taken by surprise, too.

"Gimme my fuckin' camera back, I'll call the police!" Nick shouts as he tries to run at Louis, but Louis' too quick and gets around him. He's laughing as he starts snapping shots of the man and Harry can't help but to smile. Louis reminds him a bit of Peter Pan when he's fucking with Hook, and that makes his heart swell just a tad.

"And tell 'em what? That you're stalking someone and taking their photo against their will? Yeah that'll go over real well," Louis fires back. The man almost grabs him from the bench Louis' standing on but a quick jump off the back of it leaves him with a good distance between them as he runs away. "I can do this all night pal, got the stamina of a fucking race horse." Harry mentally catalogs that for later.

Curiosity has gathered a small crowd around them, Harry doesn't think they recognize him just yet and if they do, they won't dare take out their phones to take photos. They're all concentrating on Louis running circles around the angering pap, darting around light poles and hurdling over trashcans like he was an Olympian.

"I'm going to give you your camera back asshole," Louis says not even breathless, Nick, on the other hand, is panting hard. "You're going to leave or my friend Tank over here," he points to Harry's bodyguard (He'll tell him later that his name's Paul), "is going to shove this Nikon up your ass. Got it?"

Harry watches Louis do something to the camera then toss it a good hundred feet, where Nick clambers to catch it before it hits the ground. 

"If I fucking catch you one more time giving my friend Harry a problem, that camera will be $3,000 worth of pretty mosaic pieces for my fucking sisters' art project, ya got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Nick says defeated as he retreats away from the boys.

"Get out of here," Paul says closing in on him and making sure he goes to his car.

The crowd claps and cheers and Harry joins in and runs over to hug Louis, "I want to kiss you so fucking much right now," he whispers to Louis. "Later," Louis responds.

Harry takes photos with the few people who didn't leave once the spectacle was over, and signs some autographs, too. Once they're safely away from anyone and in the car, Harry drags Louis' by the shirt and kisses him hard. "That was amazing, you were amazing Louis, fuck, I—thank you."

"You're welcome, it was nothing, I had fun," Louis smiles. "Oh here," he says reaching into his pocket and pulling out a battery and memory card. "You can burn these or something," he smiles.

Harry kisses him again and it's all sloppy tongue and Paul grunts from the front seat as the driver drives off.

"So where do you want to go?" Harry asks.

"Is our date not over?"

"Well, do you want to go to your real apartment or would you like me to bring you to Liam's?" He asks.

"Oh. Uh...I guess I might as well show you my real place..." Louis says avoiding eye contact with Harry.

"Hey," Harry says seriously, "I'm not going to run, not after what you just did for me..." 

When Louis said rundown Harry was expecting crackheads and peeling paint and shoddy light fixtures, but he was surprised by the building Louis led him into. It was obviously no million dollar listing, but he figures it's what he'd most likely be living in if he wasn't famous. The first metal door clinks shut behind him and Louis unlocks the glass door.

"Hope you don't mind steps," Louis says pointing to the stairs. It sort of smells like cat pee in the hallway as they walk in and go up the flights. They get to the third floor and Louis stops in front of 323. Harry smiles because that's Lily's birthday.

"Well...this is it." Louis flicks the light switch and Harry steps over the threshold and into the small apartment. Louis pushes the door shut with a few loud bangs and sets his keys in a bowl next to the door.

"I honestly expected worse." he says taking another step forward.

"My entire apartment is the size of your living room," Louis groans as he slouches onto the couch. Harry joins him. It's a little stiff and bumpy, but not as bad as he thought.

"$4,000 a month going to a fucking cardboard shoebox," Louis says untying his shoes. "It's late, you should head home, I don't want your driver waiting..."

"Paul and the driver are fine, they're used to waiting...probably fell asleep."

"Paul? No Tank is way better! More mean." Louis laughs. "Paul's like your grandma's cat's name."

"He _is_ a softy on the inside," Harry giggles. "So uh...can I see your room?" He asks nudging Louis.

"Thought this date was no sex? So no." 

"I never said for sex, I wanted to see it. Plus, it's Tuesday now which means the Monday rules no longer apply."

It takes a minute for Louis to give in. Harry takes his shoes off while his decision is being contemplated. He sees a few skateboards resting against the corner wall, the soccer ball that hit him in the face lay next to them. In all honestly, Louis' apartment was nothing to be embarrassed about.

"Yo, Harry ya coming?" He didn't even realize Louis had gotten up and walked about twenty feet to his right in an open doorway. Harry gets up and walks over.

"Bit messy cause I haven't been here—" Harry cuts him off with his mouth and holds his head still while he kisses him. Louis' shoulders relax and Harry feels his hands rest on his hips. 

Harry lowers his hands to Louis' thighs and with an "oof," lifts Louis' up around his waist. Louis shakily gets the idea and wraps his legs around him while Harry walks forward toward the bed. It squeaks when Louis' back hits it, the creaking growing as Harry's weight drops on it, too. He lifts Louis' legs over his shoulders and pushes between his legs to hover over him. He doesn't ask, but starts unbuttoning Louis' shirt his smile spreading as more skin comes into view.

"I'll have you know, this really is my shirt," Louis voice cracks with a small chuckle. "I can afford Burberry sometimes." Harry smirks at Louis and digs his face into his neck, sucking the skin while Louis squirms. He runs his hand up and down Louis' chest exhaling deep breaths and grunts as he bruises down his collarbone and chest.

Harry keeps one hand planted firmly on Louis' chest while the other cups his dick, squeezing up the length, small moans peep out from Louis' throat against Harry's mouth. Louis leans up and shakes his shirt off him his arms cursing at the tightness at the elbows and Harry laughs as he kisses his chest.

Louis' naked rather quickly (no lace underwear...this time) and Harry marvels at him in the light. He seems shy even though Harry's seen him naked before. He hopes that taking off his own clothes will melt that away.

It does.

"Do you have..." Harry asks as Louis pulls him on top of his body. Harry straddles Louis and their lips collide in a breathy kiss. "Yeah," Louis huffs, "in a sec..."

Harry doesn't care that he's rutting against Louis' cock like a sex-starved teenager, it feels so good, and almost too much for him to handle, especially when Louis takes both of them in his hands and strokes them side by side. "Lou...fuuck, Louis..."

"Lie down baby," Louis whispers. He pushes Harry back so his head hits the bottom of a pillow and Louis slides down his body and lifts his knees up by his ankles.

"Lou...anything..." Harry groans, "you don't need to ask."

"Fuck...okay, just relax for me." Louis coos. He strokes Harry lightly and even that makes him flutter his eyes closed. He shoots his eyes open again when the wet warmth of Louis' mouth shoots up his spine.

"Lou, yeah, just fuck...that's good, so good," he groans.

"Do me a favor," Louis asks popping off of him, "reach out your hand..no little more left, down...yeah drawer...open okay, yup there ya go," Harry grabs the mostly full bottle and rolls it down the bed to Louis.

It's only a second or two until he feels wet fingers on his cock followed by Louis' mouth. He knows he could come just from this, but spreads his legs open, inviting Louis for more. "Pushy, pushy," Louis' low voice grunts with a chuckle.

"Please," Harry begs. 

"Since you asked so nicely..." responds Louis. A wet finger presses against Harry's entrance and he pushes his hips down with a moan.

It's been a while, a year or more since Harry's really  _been_ with someone. He's mostly satisfied with just his own fingers and toys, but Louis, oh god did he know how to completely undo him with just a few fingers. "Oh my god, Louis...god right there, oh my—" he groans. His hips press down into the mattress as Louis works his fingers in and out of Harry — his mouth busy against the base of his cock.

"I can come just like this, if you keep doing—fuck—that," his moans are loud and Harry's sure these walls are as thin as paper, but it doesn't matter, he wants people to hear what Louis can turn him into.

"Not yet, don't want you to," Louis says with a thickness to his voice.

"I want you in me," Harry says tugging on Louis' hair, "now...fuck, please, now."

Harry moans as Louis twists his fingers one last time and pulls them out of him. He crawls up Harry's body, kissing up the whole way until he reaches his lips. "Yeah?" he whispers. Harry nods quickly and pulls Louis on top of him.

Harry had to physically stop himself from coming the second Louis was inside of him. he did so by biting down on Louis' shoulder, tasting blood as he released when Louis started moving. "Ohh my god. Louis. Louis, fuck oh my god so good."

"Yeahhh, you feel so good baby," Louis breathes into Harry's ear. The pillow under Harry's hips is shifting slightly and he tries to hold it still while Louis fucks him.

Everything was just sweat and heavy breathing and a squeaky bed that got louder the harder Louis thrusted into him. he didn't want it to end, but knew he could barely hold out even a few minutes. He was embarrassed how fast it happened, he blames Louis for reaching his hand between them to touch his cock. It took one stroke for him to spill onto Louis' hand with a guttural moan he could feel in his toes. 

"Harry, you're perfect, fuck..." Louis gasps into his neck. Harry feels him freeze up for a moment then drops his sweaty chest onto his own. Their hearts beat almost in time until Louis shakily lifts up and pulls out of Harry. 

"Louis...thank you," Harry pants, his chest heavy and tight.

"You're welcome?" Louis laughs crawling to Harry's side after he throws the condom out.

"That was...you were..."

"Shh...you're going to hurt yourself," Louis laughs as he pats Harry's face with a wet cloth. "You can sleep over if you want, it's so late."

"I just I need to make a phone call first," Harry says sitting up. 

"Of course. I'm going to get some water for us." Louis says putting the cloth on the table and getting off the bed.

Harry texts Paul to leave, then whispers to Sara on the phone and tells her he'll be home as soon as he can in the morning and hangs up when Louis walks back in with a glass for him.

While Harry's one blink away from falling asleep, he decides it's his time to come clean about his life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took ages to update I was really busy. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Harry's alarm wakes him with a grunt. He set it low so it wouldn't disturb Louis, but he still wants to throw it against a wall knowing it meant that he had to peel himself off of Louis' chest now that it was going off. His driver would be outside the apartment in fifteen minutes to pick him up to take him to rehearsals and he cursed himself for it. He hated having to do this, he didn't want to leave the comfort of Louis' bed, especially when he wasn't awake. He can't help but to lean over and lightly press his lips to Louis' shoulder — savoring his skin.

Not wanting to make any more noise, a shower was reduced to finding a cloth and patting himself down with it and he brushed his teeth with his finger, then slides on yesterday's clothes. His body was only slightly sore as he tugged his pants up and stretched his hands up toward the ceiling. He spent a good minute just watching Louis sleep. He looked young, but absolutely handsome and Harry's toes were pushing him back to the warmth of the bed, but his mind knew better.

He grabbed for where Louis left his keys in the bowl by the door, shutting it quietly, he ran down the stairs and out the front door. His SUV was already parked out front and Harry put up his finger to say "one minute" to his driver and walked quickly down the block. It was rush hour which meant no one paid Harry any attention as dozens of people walked by him in a hurry to get to work, never looking up once to ID him.

He was only twenty or so minutes late for rehearsals and apologized a million times to the crew and his band for his tardiness and jumped right into his set — he did have a tour to prepare for and with only a handful more weeks, no more time could be wasted. He spent the next three hours rehearsing with no more than a single bathroom or water break.

"Hey, Harry," Niall shouts coming through the door. He's usually not at rehearsals, there's no need, but his friend is walking with a purpose and Harry stops mid-song to address him.

"Yo, Ni, what's up man?" he says jumping down from the practice stage and grabbing a towel to wipe his face.

"What'd we say about discretion?" Niall's phone is shoved in his face and when it comes into focus, Harry sees a dark photo that's of him and Louis, but no one could really tell who the other person was and then next to it a photo from this morning of him walking out of the front door of Louis' apartment. The caption reading:  _Harry Styles makes a quick exit from unknown Brooklyn residence after time with mystery date._

He furrows his brows and reads the poorly reported paragraph, "What? No one else was identified," Harry says handing Niall his phone. He's used to these types of articles and really didn't appreciate Niall disrupting his rehearsal for something so stupid.

"Well, if you keep reading a source says you were getting cozy with a guy," Niall huffs putting his phone in his pocket. 

"Sorry, I'll be more careful next time," Harry pouts. He doesn't feel bad and won't apologize for spending time with Louis.

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this that easily, not when you have a tour to sell out. " Niall says furrowing his eyebrow, "you know what happens when you start getting—"

"What? Gay? Oh sorry...forgot, can't fucking do that." Harry says turning away from his friend, "you know what I mean," Niall says back and Harry feels his friend's hand on his shoulder.

"Anyway, came by to also tell you we secured the Morning Show gig Wednesday at Z100, don't stay up too late tomorrow, gotta be up at 5," Niall says walking back toward the large doors he came through, "I'll send you the approved questions tonight and keep your schedule clear that afternoon."

"Okay cool and why?" Harry asks setting his water and towel down.

"You're going on a date, pal." Before Harry can rebut, Niall is out the door.

* * *

 Louis feels himself smiling as he wakes up. He places the time around 10:30, groaning about how early it was. Surely his body knew to stay asleep after such a night. He rolls over, expecting to be met with Harry's warm body, but hits the cold mattress instead. Shooting his eyes open in a embarrassing panic, Louis is indeed met with the empty bed he had hoped was only in his head. His heart sinks like it's being pulled through quicksand, there's not even a note on the bedside table, or a text on his phone.

It takes him a minute to get up, wishing he was just going to hear the click of the shower turn on and Harry really didn't just... _leave_. But there was nothing. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, there was no way he would just go, like nothing last night mattered or happened. Harry wasn't like that. There was a reason and Louis thought best to think about the reason over a cup of coffee, because fuck, he was still so tired.

The smile returns to his face rather quickly when he opens his bedroom door to walk into the kitchen. On his and Zayn's small wooden table lay a large Dunkin cup and a box of donuts with a piece of paper on top. Louis laughs as he walks closer to it, the cup is still a little warm, meaning Harry didn't leave too long ago. He fingers the paper and rubs his eyes.

_I didn't want to wake you up, but I had to go to rehearsals and I wanted you to know that I never break promises. Although, I wish I was here to eat them with you. Wasn't sure how you took your coffee but you strike me as the kind of guy who orders it black but secretly puts 5 sugars into it. Also, donuts....wasn't positive on your other favorite flavors so I got 6...$4...WOW what a fucking deal. Call/text me when you get this please._

_xox_

_Harry_

Harry answers on the third ring.

"Six actually," Louis says with his mouth full of a blueberry donut.

"What?" Harry laughs, "good morning by the way." He sounds a little out of breath and Louis finds it charming.

"Good morning and six sugars actually....thank you," he smiles between bites. 

"I was close! Glad you liked it, I myself ordered some egg sandwich thing, it was good. Sorry I left, I didn't want you thinking I was sneaking out," Harry says.

"No it's fine, only a slight moment of panic," Louis admits. "Would have much rather woken up to your snoring self, but can't win all the time."

"Excuse you! I do not snore—"

"But you do!" Louis laughs cutting Harry off. "It's cute though."

"Thanks...you're a great cuddler yourself, speaking of, I'm going to need cuddling after rehearsals I'm so sore from running around."

"Oh?" Louis says sipping his coffee while he stretches out on the sofa. He needed to meet Zayn like an hour ago at work, but he can totally get started without him and he'll meet him at the next place. "Highly doubt that's the  _only_  reason you're sore," he smirks.

"Heeeeey," Harry whines and Louis laughs. "Fine, I was going to invite you over, but now I won't and on that note, no sex for you," he whispers the last bit.

"Please Styles, you wish you had that much self-control," Louis jokes. His heart skips a little at Harry's offer, glad it wasn't going to get weird now. "Although as much as I'd love to, I did actually have prior engagements today, could we rain check?"

Harry legitimately seemed disappointed when Louis says this, his voice a little higher than usual, "Oh, yeah, sure. Well, I'm being beckoned...text me if you get bored, I'll be here till four."

"Have fun, don't pull any more muscles," Louis laughs as Harry hangs up on him.

Zayn's only slightly mad that Louis made him clean a 4,000 square foot apartment alone, but he did bring the leftover donuts to aid his apology. Although his phone stayed in his pocket, it never buzzed with any new texts and he found himself too busy to send any, as well. It was probably a good thing though, to get out of la la land for a little and attend to his own life. The life that included scrubbing toilets and getting dried eggs off of countertops while trying to debate if ramen or rice sounded better for dinner.

Tuesday passed with barely a trace of Harry, Louis spent the day with Zayn in the morning, then the two of them decided it was about time to clean up Liam's place. He felt like a teenage girl checking his phone every second and went so far as to make Zayn hide it for the rest of the night, while they went out to a local bar to support one of Zayn's friend's cover bands. Come Wednesday, Louis was starting to think Monday was an mirage.

They had an earlier morning than usual, with eight houses to get through, their day unfortunately started at seven and it took more than one cup of coffee to drag both Louis and Zayn out of bed. Louis didn't even bother changing out of the sweater he slept in and slipped on whatever jeans were in his reach and made his way out to their van where Zayn already had two large cups waiting. He hoped none of their clients would be coming home, because he looked like a burglar more than a cleaner.

"Your boy's on this morning," Zayn says sipping his coffee. He reaches his arm to the radio and increases the volume, "didn't miss much, yet."

"Not my boy," Louis says getting in and shutting the door. He'd be lying if his stomach didn't do somersaults when his hearing focused on Harry's voice. It was raspier than usual and it's either how he just sounds in the morning or he was getting sick, either way it sounded insanely gorgeous.

"So Harry," the man's voice says over the radio as they drove, so far they've asked him about his music and his tour, Louis didn't realize he'd sold out three nights at The Garden. It definitely put his celebrity status into perspective. "We saw some photos of you in Brooklyn..." Louis' heart dropped and he heard Zayn snort loudly and look to him. Even though the volume was already loud, Louis turns it up a little louder.

"Oh yeah, had a party with some friends, ya know, nothing too wild," Harry laughs. Louis wonders if he's been trained well, or just a good liar.

"So not at a secret girlfriend's apartment?" the interviewer pushes. "There's about two thousand girls outside who have been begging us to find out."

"I don't have a  _girl_ friend," Harry says and Louis can almost feel the smirk through the radio. "Just hanging out with a close friend."

"Anyone you're crushing on? Someone special got your eye though? I mean you're Harry Styles, someone has to..." the man's voice presses.

Harry pauses for a second and Louis doesn't realize he's biting his lip. He's not expecting Harry to tell the world he likes him or something, but maybe he could just give him a hint that whatever they are — whatever this is between them — is  _something_.

"To be honest, I've got my eye on someone," Harry says.

"I think I just heard all of the girls outside start crying," a woman's voice chimes in. "Girls it's okay," she says addressing the mass herd of teenage girls outside the radio station, "we'll buy you all chocolate."

"Can I just say," another women's voice pipes up in a thick Long Island accent, "I quite like you and your old flame Emma, any chance you'd get back together?" she asks.

"Oh no, don't think so...she's in a pretty serious relationship," Harry says as Zayn pulls into his parking spot and Louis tells him he'll meet him inside. Zayn rolls his eyes and keeps the engine running as he jumps out.

"Well, we will definitely be keeping our eye on you mister!" the main interviewer says as he quickly changes the subject. "We're pretty good at playing matchmaker if you need help."

"Afraid I'm quite boring really," Harry says, "the real action happens on stage," he jokes going into what is definitely a planned plug for his tour.

Louis spends ten more seconds listening until turning the car off and meeting Zayn inside. He doesn't say anything but just gives Louis a smile and shakes his head and throws him a rag. If he was smiling to himself for the rest of the day, no one said a word.

He finally got a text from Harry around 3:30 that afternoon while Louis was just finishing vacuuming some crazy printed Persian rug that Zayn most definitely did not try to wrap himself in while Louis was busy with something else.

**(3:31 p.m.) Lou??**

Louis decided to give it a few minutes so he didn't seem like he was desperately waiting for a text. Harry didn't have to know his heart skipped a beat when it finally vibrated in his pocket.

**(3:39 p.m.) Harry??**

****(3:39 p.m.)** : ) you're alive!**

****(3:39 p.m.)** That I am and as are you**

****(3:40 p.m.)** Sorry...just busy. But I'm bored right now : /**

******(3:40 p.m.)**** So you texted me...thanks**

******(3:40 p.m.)**** NO! Not what i meant. Just at lunch and bored.**

******(3:40 p.m.)**** Do you need company?**

******(3:41 p.m.)**** I have company but she's killin me and won't stop talking about fashion**

******(3:41 p.m.)**** Oh?**

Louis watches the dots pop up and disappear in the usual Harry fashion.

 ** ** **(3:43 p.m.)**** Do me a favor? ** **Just don't go on like gossip sites. Please.**

Louis felt like when he was a kid and his mom would always taunt him and tell him not to do something, but that always made him inquisitive and he usually found away to do whatever it was he wasn't supposed to do. He didn't even need to go online to know what Harry was talking about. It was pretty clear that he was on a set up date and Louis didn't realize it would affect him the way it was. But it also didn't stop him from quickly typing in Harry's name into Twitter and seeing a handful of photos of the pair eating outside at a cafe. Harry certainly didn't look bored, more like crinkly-eyed-giggling-while-taking-a bite-of-her-food happy and it certainly lined up nicely with him saying he was crushing on someone earlier. Not that Louis believed he was talking about anyone other than himself.

******(3:45 p.m.)**** Who are you with?**

******(3:45 p.m.)**** Just my friend Cara. FRIEND...in case you hear otherwise**

******(3:47 p.m.)**** Got it. Well enjoy lunch I have to get back to work.** 

Louis turns his phone on silent and shoves it into his pocket. He knew who Cara was of course, and was pretty sure she was into girls anyway. He wasn't mad at all...jealous maybe, but not mad. He had no right to be mad — Harry wasn't his boyfriend, he had no claim on him, he was as much as a free agent as anyone else out there.

"Zayn let's get drunk tonight," Louis bellows from the side of the house he's on. Zayn quickly yells in agreement and they both hurry with what they're doing.

* * *

Harry's day finally ends by seven and his cheeks hurt from smiling in so many photos. He's pretty sure he met half of the West Village today and couldn't wait to get home and see Lily.

"Hey, it's me!" Harry yells shedding himself of his coat and shutting the front door. He hears the pitter patter of bare feet against wood accompanied by giggling as Lily comes into sight from her room with Sara right behind her. "Love the outfit," he laughs at his daughter's choice of green polkadot pants and yellow striped shirt.

"Daddy's home!" she yells barreling into his arms. He lifts her and spins her around in a circle as her hair flies in every direction then plops her down onto the couch with a laugh. "Are you leaving again?" she asks. It's an innocent question, but it makes Harry frown nonetheless.

"I'm all yours Lil," he says pulling her into his lap and squeezing her in a tight hug and covering her face with kisses. 

She decided that she wanted to make cupcakes for dinner because she had spent the whole day playing with her dolls who owned a swanky little bakery — until the Hulk smashed it to bits. "He was only trying to help," she told Harry. "There was a bad guy trying to steal the secret recipe."

He loved her imagination more than anything, it was wilder than his had been at that age — or so he's been told. And as much as her mother wanted to get her into film and TV, Harry wouldn't allow it. He wanted Lily to grow up as normal as possible, without all of the microscopes and cameras shoved in her face. Even when it finally came time to reveal her to the world, he promised himself he wouldn't let her be a victim of prying eyes and curious minds.

A messy kitchen and twenty-four Funfetti cupcakes later, Harry and Lily settle around the kitchen table to begin frosting them. He takes his eyes off his cupcake to watch Lily carefully add sprinkles to the top of hers. Her tongue is sticking out in concentration as she tries to perfect the letter 'L' on the frosting as if she was creating the next great masterpiece of this century.

"Who's going to eat all of these cupcakes?" Harry asks licking his fingers and inhaling the sweet smell that's wafting through the house. He may buy store bought mix sometimes, but he'll never use pre-made frosting.

"ME!" she shouts and presses the cupcake into her mouth in a gooey mess, the sprinkles now stuck to her chin and nose. Harry laughs and sinks his teeth into the one he has in his hand. Part of him wishes Louis was here to help eat them, Harry thinks he'd like to see him in one of his million silly aprons.

"Honey, can I go make a phone call and you can continue decorating these?" Lily nods while she licks the pink frosting off of her fingers and picks up more sprinkles.

Louis doesn't answer on the first ring, so Harry tries again and when he picks up Harry can barely hear him.

"Louis? Hey, am I bothering you?" he semi-shouts.

"Harrrry. Nope just out with Zayn," Louis giggles on the other end.

"Are you drunk? It's like 8," Harry laughs.

"Little bit, long day—yes, that one—sorry, let me go outside."

"No, it's fine, I just wanted to say hi, don't want to keep you," Harry says biting on his thumb nail.

"Hi then, wish you were here."

"Me too," he says standing in front of the mirror on his cherry oak vanity. He barely recognizes himself, he looks tired and older than usual, but not a good old, a worn out old. He tugs gently at his hair, pushing it back to already reveal a slowly receding hairline and thumbs at the dark circles under his eyes that are usually masked by makeup. He forgets sometimes that he's only 22 years old. Especially when everyone his age — especially those in his line of work — aren't at home taking care of a child, which is the least of his worries.

A banging from the kitchen alarms Harry and thankfully wherever Louis is, he can't hear it over the noise.

"Shit, go ahead Lou, I'll talk to you later," he rushes through the door and down the hall to find Lily on the ground trying to scoop frosting off of the floor and table into the metal bowl it was in.

"Byeeeeee," Louis sings and ends it with a smooching sound and hangs up.

"Oh Lily!" Harry laughs looking at the mess. He should be worried that it'll stain everything, but he can't get mad when she's covered in pink frosting and has the most innocent look on her face. He'd really never trade this in for anything. No amount of free drinks or anything could top this.

"Oops!"

"Oops is right missy," he says lowering onto the ground with a roll of paper towels from the kitchen. "Lick your fingers and go hop in the bath, I'll be right in to help you shampoo all this gunk out."

She scurries off to her room, leaving drops of frosting in her wake. 

He gets Lily settled into bed around 9:30, after a story and a cuddle session. When she starts to snore, he knows it's safe to crawl out of her bed. He tucks the blanket around her and kisses her head and flicks her nightlight on and shuts her door most of the way.

Harry takes his time in the shower, scrubbing away the day. The interview. The lunch. The millions of paps. Whoever he was acting as for those few hours all go down the drain, unsure what's left of him after that. he forgot how hard it was to do this sort of thing. To lie this much more to his fans and the public — it was at the top of his list for the cons of being a celebrity. He hated secrets more than anything, lived through too many at home to justify anything real from his childhood. The water turns cold and he shuts it off and stands facing the shower wall for a few minutes before stepping out and grabbing a towel. He's glad the bathroom mirror is foggy, he's not in the mood to look at himself.

There's a text waiting on his phone when he picks it up to plug it into the charger.

**(10:12 p.m.) need u**

Harry looks at the clock and notices it's been about ten minutes since Louis texted him.

**(10:24 p.m.) Are you okay?**

**(10:24 p.m.) Mhm just at some bar w/z**

**(10:24 **p.m.** ) good having fun i hope?**

**(10:25 **p.m.** ) Too mch**

**(10:25 p.m.) Drunk?**

**(10:25 **p.m.** ) Oh ya hahag**

**(10:26 **p.m.** ) Cute are you getting free drinks?**

**(10:29 **p.m.** ) I know you are and yeah but not trying to tho**

**(10:30 **p.m.** ) You're just that good ; )**

**(10:30 **p.m.** ) duh**

Harry laughs and tries to imagine what a very drunk Louis is like. He's probably louder than usual (if that's possible) and Harry hopes he's clingy...for now tries to think he's not, unless he just clings to Zayn. Yeah, that eases him to sleep better.

**(12:34 a.m.) Harry**

**(12:34 **a.m.** ) Harry**

**(12:34 **a.m.** ) Harry**

**(12:35 **a.m.** ) Harrrrry** !!!!!!!!!!!

**(12:36 **a.m.** ) babeeee are you asleep????/?**

The constant buzzing Harry hears is slowly drawing him out of sleep and for a moment he thinks his alarm is already going off. He groans and feels his way around the table to his left until he finds his phone and squints his eyes as it illuminates his room. His stomach flutters at the pet name, diminishing any annoyance at being woken up.

**(12:38 a.m.) I'm not anymore...  
**

**(12:38 a.m.) FUCK sorrry**

**(12:38 a.m.) It's okay are you still out?**

**(12:39 a.m.) Home now. In bed**

**(12:39 a.m.) Hopefully alone haha**

**(12:39 a.m.) Oh no. Super hot guy came home with me he's takin a piss atm**

**(12:39 a.m.) : ( fine bye**

**(12:40 a.m.) Joking just me here all alone....naked....in bed....**

**(12:40 a.m.) good night sleep tight**

**(12:41 a.m.) ur no funn**

**(12:41 a.m.) No i'm half asleep is what i am**

**(12:42 a.m.) and I'm half hard so looks liek we both have problemss**

**(12:42 a.m.) ....**

**(12:44 **a.m.** ) It's hard to text one handed and still drunk**

**(12:44 **a.m.** ) You're killing me Louis**

**(12:45 a.m.) Wan tyou here**

**(12:45 a.m.) Lou stopppp**

**(12:46 a.m.) srry i was just thinking about the other night and hten yeah got lonely...well horny**

**(12:47 a.m.) If I could make it there before you came I would**

Harry finds himself sitting up in his bed against the headboard trying not to let his hand slide into his lap. He's never done this sort of thing before, never even tried Skype sex, but just looking at Louis' texts starts to make him get clammy and warm. He's fully aware his daughter's room is only a few doors away and he feels rather filthy getting off while she's dreaming of unicorns and cupcakes. With anyone else he'd find this ridiculous, but somehow Louis ignited something in him that made him crazy, a good crazy.

**(12:49 a.m.) Bet u could just make me come instead**

**(12:52 a.m.) But how will I know if I succeeded**

**(12:53 a.m.) I'll send a pic**

Fuck. Okay, scratch that, this was happening.

**(12:53 a.m.) You're so..I don't even know but you're just**

**(12:54 a.m.) pls tell me i'm not the only one ya know...**

**(12:54 a.m.) Difficult to not get hard with what you're texting. I could just call ya know**

**(12:54 a.m.) this is fun though but I do want to hear your sleepy voice**

 

"Hey..." Louis answers with a gravelly voice, "thought no calls."

"You just said you wanted to hear me," Harry whispers.

"I did and fuck you're voice is so hot like rough," Louis sighs into Harry's ear. "I'm going to hang up or I'm going to beg for you to come here."

"And you know I'd do it, too," Harry says biting his lip and pressing his hand against his sleep pants.

"Just tell me you're touching yourself," Louis purrs into the receiver, "I want you to be here so badly."

"Same and of course I am," Harry says pulling his pajamas down and gripping himself, "hang up, unless I can just sit here and listen to you." He says as Louis breathes jaggedly into the phone.

"No, I want to text," Louis hums and Harry swears he hears a small moan afterwards.

"Okay...yeah, bye."

**(12:59 a.m.) Ypur voice is literly the hottest fuckign thing i've ever ehard**

**(1:00 a.m.) Lou you've heard it plenty of times haha I love drunk you**

**(1:00 a.m.) Yeah but its all deep and fucking just rough**

**(1:01 a.m.) You seem like you like it rough**

**(1:01 a.m.) u have no idea**

**(1:02 a.m.) I'll have to find out**

**(1:02 a.m.) pls like soon I need those fingers on me**

**(1:02 a.m.) I was thinking in you**

**(1:03 a.m.) fuck. I'm totly going to wake up z oops**

**(1:03 a.m.) Are you being loud?**

**(1:03 a.m.) Not as loud as if you were in me**

**(1:04 a.m.) I want you to ride me next time yeah?**

**(1:04 a.m.) mhm yeah i want to. fck its really hard to do this and type**

**(1:04 a.m.) Tell me what you're doing**

**(1:05 a.m.) My legs are spread and I'm two fingers deep while i try and txt you but i want your mouth on me too**

**(1:05 a.m.) god I'd love to see you like this can come just thinking about it**

**(1:06 a.m.) I need to put the phone down and finish i'm so close H**

Harry stops texting Louis for a few minutes and leans back and closes his eyes as he works his palm over his cock thinking of Louis spread out on his bed. Just thinking about him squirming around with little groans escaping his lips while he frantically pumps his fingers inside himself is exactly what Harry needs to feel his own orgasm rise in his belly. He bites his lip with a grunt as he spills over his hand, his chest heaving with a glint of sweat as he rides out his orgasm.

His phone buzzes at his side.

**(1:12 a.m.) image32.jpg**

**(1:12 a.m.) fuck Lou fuck that's so hot oh my god**

**(1:13 a.m.) felt good waste now since i'm all ready and open for you**

**(1:13 a.m.) If I could come again I would. I want to get my mouth all over you.**

**(1:15 a.m.) Wish you could now. What made u come?**

**(1:15 a.m.) You obviously...but just thinking of you fingering yourself. I'd like to see that for real**

**(1:16 a.m.) I can show you**

**(1:17 a.m.) please**

**(1:17 a.m.) Since you asked so nicely maybe i will**

**(1:18 a.m.) You're unbelievable. I can't believe we just did that**

**(1:23 a.m.) well it was fun sleepy time now zzzzzzz**

**(1:23 a.m.) Always using me for sex Lou**

**(1:24 a.m.) : D muahhh talk to you in the morning or aftnoon**

**(1: 24 a.m.) You're ridiculous good night xox**

**(1:25 a.m.) You love it**

**(1:25 a.m.) I do**  

* * *

Louis' week had progressed nicely by Saturday. He was able to quickly see Harry during his Thursday rehearsals. It was amazing to see the way he transformed into a performer, and hearing him sing without all the bells and whistles of a normal stage production blew him away. It was also nice to not have to worry about kissing him or grabbing his ass when he stopped for a water break — Harry trusted every person on his team and most of them had been with him since he was a teenager, they loved and protected him like a son.

June had approached which meant most of his and Zayn's clients would be abandoning their Manhattan penthouses for their Hampton houses and leave them with less work, only requiring them to dust the place before said clients decided to come home. Louis did look forward to a less hectic schedule though, as long as he managed his spendings correctly he'd be able to coast nicely through the summer without having to worry too much about his bank account. Liam would be coming home in just under a week and Louis decided it was time for him and Zayn to say goodbye to their palace and permanently stay in Brooklyn.

As he was just finishing packing what he did bring to Liam's, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Someone's at the door!" Louis yells down the hall.

"I got it!" Zayn yells.

Louis goes back to packing and making Liam's bed when another knock comes from behind him on the bedroom door. Louis fluffs the pillow and sets it down then turns around, a smile lights up his face.

"Hey, how'd you know we'd be here?" Louis says stepping forward toward Harry. He's wearing tight dark wash jeans and a plaid shirt with the first few buttons open, revealing a very tan and smooth chest. His hair looks longer and curlier than usual where it sits just above his shoulders with a side part. Breathtaking could be an appropriate word to fit his description.

"Saw the van a few blocks over while I was out in Central Park," Harry says smiling as he advances out of the doorway, "moving out?" His laugh is music to Louis's ears as he blushes slightly and shakes his head yes.

"Liam's coming back soon so we figured we should go," Louis responds zipping his duffle, "shouldn't you be on a date or something?" Louis asks in response to the last few nights that Harry's been out with Cara. He didn't realize it was a continuous thing from two weeks prior, but the pair have steadily been seen with each other just about every day since then and the rumor mill was going crazy. Louis knew it was only just smoke and mirrors and nothing more, but it still hurt his heart just a little when he'd see them getting cozy at a Broadway show or Harry with his hand on her lower back while he ushered her into the front of a hotel. 

"Heeey," Harry whines lowering his head. He reaches for Louis who puts his hand out, "could  _we_ go on a date today?" he asks rubbing a small scratch on Louis' wrist that he got the other day on the job.

Louis still finds it hard to believe that Harry is interested in him. he could get any guy he wanted and yet he's continuing to court him, instead. He swats away any of his previous thoughts as he watches the way Harry looks at him. He may be able to fool the world, but he's never looked at a girl the way he's looking at Louis right now. That dopey drunk grin even though he's sober as anything all soft eyes and flushed cheeks — Louis' probably looking at him the same way.

"I'd love to," Louis smiles. "Where should we go?"

Harry doesn't answer yet, but pulls Louis close enough so he can kiss him and Louis feels his chest melt and eyes flutter close. It's soft and gentle and Harry's thumb is slowly sweeping over his ear and giving him chills.

"Can you come back to my place? It's a pap nightmare on Saturdays," Harry tells him as he lifts his hand and pecks the spot on his wrist then up his forearm. 

In that moment Louis pities Harry. He could never imagine having to live his life in constant fear or annoyance because of men with cameras, and yet here he is doing just that for him. But even if Harry said they had to quarantine themselves for months, he'd agree without a second thought.

"Of course, can I shower and change first?" 

"Yeah, I'll go hang out with Zayn while you do that," Harry smiles placing one chaste kiss on his lips.

 

Louis comes out of the bedroom to find Harry and Zayn playing video games on the giant television.

"You bastard!" Harry's shouting while furiously pressing on the controllers as explosions are going off.

"Fuck yeah sucka! Take that!" Zayn shouts back while doing some stupid victory dance in the middle of the floor.

He's sort of in love with how well they get along and almost doesn't want to interrupt.

"God dammit I was so close to winning," Harry pouts tossing the control next to him on the couch. Louis laughs at him and coughs to show his presence.

"Ready?" Louis asks walking closer to his friends, "this outfit okay?"

He watches Harry look up at him from where he's sitting and can't help but to blush when he blatantly checks him up and down a few times.

"Perfect, let's go. See ya Zayn!" Harry says hugging him, making Louis' heart melt that much more.

The ride to Harry's apartment is short, they literally could have walked through Central Park, but Harry insisted they were driven there, instead. Louis notices Harry seemed rather uptight as they drove, his knee was constantly shaking up and down and he wouldn't make eye contact with him for more than a second.

"Hey, you okay?" Louis scoots closer and puts his hand on Harry's knee to steady the shaking. It seems to make Harry come out of whatever deep thought he was in and put on a small smile and nod.

"Yeah, I just...well I'll explain when we get home," he says. Louis likes the way  _home_ sounds.

They hold hands as they ride in the elevator silently, the bing of the doors opening makes Louis jump.

It's quiet when they enter. The sun is beaming through the windows casting a nice soft glow onto the walls. It looks more lived-in that the last time Louis was there when it seemed liked more of a showroom than anything. Things were tossed haphazardly on the ground and couches and as they walked toward the kitchen, Louis spotted a few baskets of laundry sitting near a door.

"Thirsty?" Harry asks sliding off his shoes. Louis does the same.

"Yeah, I can get it, you don't nee—"

They kiss for a minute all slow and lazy and Louis forgets anything he was about to say or any conclusions he was going to make about the tule tutu on the top of the laundry pile.

"Beer? Wine? Juice box?" Harry whispers, his lips hovering over Louis'.

Louis laughs, "juice box? Why am I not surprised, I'll have whatever you're having."

He follows Harry into the kitchen, it's walls still bright green and a handful of cupcakes sit on a plate under a cake topper. Just when he thinks he has Harry figured out, he surprises him. The hiss of a bottle cap opening alerts Louis to the beer that's being slid to him across the island, he picks it up with a nod and sips the cold alcohol.

Harry's looking at him intently as if he's waiting to say something, but stays quiet for an unusual amount of time — just enough to where Louis is feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Louis asks with a small burp, "you seem...out there."

Harry flashes him another smile and sips his beer, rounding the island to get closer to Louis. The clink of glass on the counter jolts Louis away from the countertop. He just wishes Harry would tell him what's going on.

"Okay so..." It's the first thing Harry's said since he asked him what he wanted to drink. "You know— okay you know how you told me that thing that night about you.."

Louis thinks this is it, that Harry has come to terms with not being able to be with someone like him — so...poor or normal or whatever.

"Look Harry, if you can't do this...I get it..." Louis says setting his bottle down and scooting away from him. He instantly regrets that comment when Harry's face falls and he looks hurt of all things.

"No. It's not that, fuck, no not at all," Harry rubs his fingers into his eyes and then through his hair, but doesn't make eye contact yet, instead he looks at the clock on the stove. "I just have to tell you tha—"

Harry stops what he's saying when they hear the front door unlock. Louis can't see it from where he's standing, but can hear voices, one of who he knows as Sara and then a smaller squeakier voice talking about ballet and he turns his head toward them.

"Harry? You home, sorry I know we're a half hour early," Sara says shutting the door, "put your bag in your room," she says quieter.

"Kitchen, Sara," Harry coughs as he grabs their empty bottles and sticks them into one of the sinks.

Sara comes through the door with a smile and looks from Harry to Louis then back to Harry, "I'll just leave this here and be right back," she says setting down a small pink lunchbox.

Louis' confused, like more confused than when he was trying to watch an all-day marathon of Lord of the Rings with Zayn while high on god knows what.

"Oh fuck," Harry calls out, "I don't know how to say this but—"

"Daddy!" a little girl's voice comes screeching from behind Louis, zooming past him toward Harry. He watches Harry's face go from alarmed to exhilarated as he bends down quickly and scoops the little girl up in his arms and plant a kiss on her lips as she wraps herself around him. "Who's that?" she whispers peeking her face around to Louis after she kisses him back.

Louis just witnessed and heard everything that just happened, but he still hasn't processed it. There's a small child in Harry's arms, she called him daddy and he's looking at her like she's the sun to his universe, but it still hasn't registered.

"Louis, this is my daughter Lily, Lil, this is daddy's friend Louis," Harry says in what has to be the smallest voice Louis has ever heard come out of him.

"Will he play with me?" she whispers against Harry's cheek trying to wipe the curls out of her eyes.

"I'm game for anything," Louis beams at the small girl, he knows it's what he needs to say to wipe the troubled look from Harry's face, but it's also exactly what he _wants_ to say. She can't be older than five and is a spitting image of Harry, there's no denying it: she's his.

He looks back to Harry and can see that his eyes are wet with tears, but he's smiling at him.

"Monkey, go get some toys and set them up in the living room okay?" Harry asks Lily as he sets her on the floor. She nods and runs toward Louis, stopping to hug his leg then runs out the kitchen door. The minute she's out of site, Harry can't help but to break down into tears. Louis' at his side in seconds.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that," Louis laughs pulling Harry into him. "You're a...dad."

Harry laughs and pulls out of Louis' arm to wipe his eyes, "I didn't know how to tell you, I was so scared, not that you'd tell anyone," he adds. "I wasn't expecting it to go like that."

"Oh my god, Harry, no—shit, this just makes you that much more fucking amazing," Louis tells him.

"Wait, really?" Harry looks at him and Louis wipes the last of his tears.

"Yes, really...it's actually kind of turning me on," Louis jokes and Harry leans forward and kisses him gently. "You're a DILF."

"Oh shut up!" Harry giggles. "You're the first, um, person I've dated, who I've told. I trust you...like, a lot," he confesses.

"That means so much to me Harry, really, I'm so glad you let me into this part of your life."

"Okay I'm ready!" Lily shouts from the other room and the two of them laugh. "Can Louis still play?"

"She's usually very shy around strangers," Harry says grabbing Louis' hand. "You just have that effect on people."

* * *

Harry's heart has finally gone back to it's normal pace once the three of them start to play with Lily's toys. It's obvious that Louis loves kids and really is close with his sisters as he watches him fall into whatever character Lily asks him to be. He doesn't cringe when she tells him to sound like an evil witch or even flinch when she scoots closer to him so she's practically in his lap.

"Daddy?" she asks turning to Harry a few minutes later, "can Louis sleep over?"

"I think Louis has work in the morning sweetie," Harry smiles politely at his daughter and looks up at Louis and mouths, "up to you" to him.

"I totally can!" Louis exclaims and Lily squeals in delight and hugs Louis' arm.

"We can all fit in Daddy's bed and I can bring Sam and Geordie and Charles, too!" she jumps out of Louis lap and runs to her room in excitement.

"Stuffed animals," Harry answers to Louis' raised brow. He uses the moment to lean forward and kiss Louis and tell him how wonderful he is. "What do you want for dinner babe? We'll order in."

"Pizza?" he suggests.

"PIZZA!" Lily yells running full speed at them.

"What'd we say about running that fast, stop showing off," Harry says sternly and Lily slows down immediately as her animals tumble out of her arms. Her dramatic gasp of horror was Oscar worthy and Harry applauds her performance.

While Harry gets up to grab his phone to order, he can't help but to watch the two of them bond. Louis introduces himself to each animal, shakes their paw, fin or wing and offers his lap up to any that need a seat and inspects them for bruises after their fall.

"So Lily you do ballet?" Harry hears Louis ask.

"Yeah, but only because Mummy wants me to, I don't like it," Lily confesses to Louis. It's the first time Harry's ever heard that.

"What do you want to do instead?" Louis asks her while dressing the doll in his hands into a ski suit.

"I just want to stay home with Daddy," she says moving the two dolls around.

"I bet he would like that, but you should also totally stay in ballet, I bet you're great."

"I am!" she yells dropping her toys and tugs on Louis' wrist, "I'll show you!"

Harry's heart sinks and explodes at the same time. He's not quite sure how he got so lucky, most people would have been out the door by now, but Louis...Louis was something else and he hoped this was something that could last. He couldn't bare making Lily lose someone in her life who she's gotten attached to — he couldn't bare to lose her or Louis.

Sara joined them for dinner and Harry explained their story, she laughs wildly at the punchline and told Louis that Zayn would be the first to know if she ever started to like guys. It was nice to have the table full, it was rare that it was ever more than Harry and Lily. His family would hopefully be visiting before tour started and he actually couldn't wait to introduce Louis to them.

Thankfully after dinner, Sara bribed Lily with ice cream and peeled her away for a little so the two of them could have some time together out on the terrace. It was a warmer night, summer was just on the horizon. All that meant to Harry was tour and the battle for his daughter, something he'd wait to mention to Louis, because he still couldn't grasp it himself.

"She's absolutely wonderful, you're doing a great job," Louis says from where they sit overlooking Central Park. The sun had just set and an orange glow blanketed the park and all the people basking in the dying day.

"Thank you," Harry whispers, "I try my best, it's hard with her mom so far away." he says. 

Louis grabs his hand, interlacing their fingers and leans his head on his shoulder, "you're a great father, Harry." And he doesn't push for anything more and Harry takes his sentiment as his way of saying there is nothing more needed to know. All he's ever wanted to be is a great father to his daughter, something he can't quite remember from his own life.

Harry squeezes his palm then kisses the hair against Louis' temple. Everything could be so perfect, he could have his daughter and his career and someone to care about. It was all there, teasing him like the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve. He swore to himself that he'd never put Lily through any more heartbreak, or big changes. He needed a sign that this was right, that  _Louis_ was right. He felt it in his heart and down to his toes.

"Lou?" his voice cracks with nervousness.

"Mhm?" Louis hums, his breath warm on Harry's shoulder.

"I know it's only been like a month, but..." Harry takes a deep breath in hopes to bring him some last minute courage, "do you think you'd maybe want to be official?"

"Like boyfriends?" Louis ask sitting up and making eye contact with Harry. His blue eyes are glowing in the dimming light, wide with what looks like hope.

"Yeah, like boyfriends."

"I would like that very much, Harry," he smiles.

Harry feels like the park, covered in a warm glow that has completely encompassed his being and soul. It feels a lot like love, but he doesn't know if he's ready to admit that yet, it still feels so foreign to him. What he does know is that he plans on waking up next to this beautiful boy for as many mornings as he can, and falling asleep next to him for just as many nights.

Lily is nestled between them in Harry's bed with her stuffed animals on either side of her body that's slightly angled more toward Louis. Her sugar high finally subsided enough to induce sleep and the much needed quiet Harry was hoping for.

"Do you need help carrying her to her room?" Louis whispers plucking her animals off the bed.

"I got it," Harry whispers back. He crawls out of bed and places his arms under Lily and lifts her up. She murmurs quietly but doesn't wake. Louis follows Harry into her room and sets her animal down on her bed once Harry has tucked her in and kissed her.

"I can leave if you want to spend time with her tomorrow?" Louis says stretching his hands toward the ceiling. Harry's eyes follow his shirt up and he licks his lips at his exposed skin.

"No, it's fine, it's too late."

* * *

Louis was glad Harry wanted him to stay, he was looking forward to waking up and having him next to him. After his shower, he was given some shorts and a shirt to change into, but Louis knew damn well it was out of courtesy and nothing more. He gave himself a minute in the bathroom to collect his thoughts—and inhale the scent from Harry's shirt.

"Can I come in and brush my teeth?" Harry asks through the door. Louis clicks it open letting him into the huge room.

"Extra toothbrushes are under the sink," Louis opens the cabinet before Harry can and bends down to grab one of the many packages. He settles on a green one. They brush their teeth in silence, stealing glances here and there from the two sinks, Louis smiles as the foamy paste covers his mouth, spitting when he's finished singing "happy birthday" to himself a few times.

"I want to live in your bed, it's so comfy," Louis chimes against the cold sheets and pillows. "I'd never leave."

He feels Harry's hand tracing idle shapes down his spine, he wiggles his toes in response.

"I'd quite like that," Harry hums. His fingers move under the shirt to touch skin to skin. Each press of his fingertips feels like little shocks pulsing through Louis' body, he's almost glad he's on his stomach so Harry can't notice him getting hard. Harry's fingers dig into his hips and up his ribs and before Louis knows it, Harry is straddling his back and full on massaging him.

"Holy shit, your hands are magic," Louis groans as Harry's thumbs press into his shoulders. He's not even attempting to stifle the grunts and groans as Harry continues to relax him. His body is putty after a few minutes and even his mouth feels tingly. Harry had peeled off Louis' shirt and tossed it to the side moments ago, claiming it was easier to work the heels of his hands into the skin — yeah, okay. Not that Louis was complaining.

When Harry's lips touched the burning skin of his back, Louis thought he was going to explode. A trail of smalls kisses and fading teeth marks imprinted themselves down Louis's spine and across his lower back. Louis fought squirming, settling on digging his fists into the sheets when Harry tugs back on his boxers and places light kisses on the swell of his ass.

"This feel okay?" Harry asks as his thumbs press their way up his back.

"Yeah, all of it...so good," Louis sputters. "I feel goopy," he laughs.

"Just want you to relax, you had a 4-year-old using you as a ladder all day," Harry sighs.

"If that's what it takes to get an amazing massage, I'm happy to do it."

"I'm using it as an excuse to touch your ass," Harry says playfully slapping Louis.

"I'm okay with that, touch away."

"Your body is seriously amazing Lou."

"So are you," Louis says wiggling under Harry to turn over and face him. Harry managed to keep his balance and stay straddling him. It was a lovely sight, but Louis also remembers what happened the night after their text conversation from a few weeks ago and was quite content on switching positions — he'd never orgasm the way he did that night when he was straddling Harry and was itching to feel like that again.

Harry's lips are soft and warm and his hands are large enough to cover half of Louis' face where they sit nestled in his hair. His tongue is minty and sweet against his own. Louis doesn't even realize he's pushing his hips up until Harry rolls his own into him, letting out a deliciously sounding moan.

"Can I take care of you?" Harry stops kissing him long enough to get the words out.

"Yeah, whatever you want babe." 

Keeping quiet was hard when Harry had his fingers and tongue in him, Louis tried his best not to scream out a mantra of Harry's name as the slick wetness of his fingers opened him. His fingers tangled wildly in Harry's hair, tugging every so often when he'd swipe a sensitive area inside him. His skin was hot and prickly and Louis pumped his hips down into Harry's fingers as if to scream out, "more, more" but only let a few soft mewls leave his dry lips. He could definitely be more than content with just the pull of Harry's long fingers dragging in an out of him, wishing it could go on for hours.

He's never been so open with someone, so spread out and exposed like how he is for Harry. It's easy to get on his hands and knees when all he hears is, "you're gorgeous," and 'fuck you look so good like this baby." Harry spends as much time praising him as he does with his mouth on him.

"I would literally let you eat me out all fucking night," Louis groans pushing back into Harry's tongue, "fuuck."

"I could," Harry says against his hole, "don't wanna stop." He nips at the taunt skin and Louis automatically contracts, moaning as a wet finger slides into him. "But I do want you to ride me again," Harry adds after.

Louis' in his lap moments later. Slowly lowering himself onto Harry's wet cock, the chills working their way up his stomach and back then to his neck where he groans satisfied into Harry's neck as he settles onto his lap. Their chests are stuck together by sweat as Louis slowly rocks his hips back and forth. Harry's hands can't keep still as they move up his thighs and settling on his ass, pulling and tugging once Louis starts to pick up speed.

"Just like that baby," Harry groans into Louis' shoulder, "so fucking good."

"Feels so good, god Harry—fuck," Louis hisses as he frantically builds up speed, the slap of skin on skin echoing in the otherwise quiet room. Louis' cock is rubbing against Harry's stomach as he bounces up and down, his hands too busy in Harry's hair to even think of touching himself. 

"Can I?" Harry asks, his hands planted on each hip.

"Yeah—yeah, please." Louis slows down and lets Harry take control. It's insane to see how strong he is, lifting Louis effortlessly and slamming him down on his cock as he jerks his hips up. It's the best feeling Louis has ever felt and his orgasm is seconds away and Harry hasn't even touched him.

"Come on love," Harry mews, "know you're almost there."

"I'm— yeah, fuck don't stop, just like that..." Louis whines as he lets go of Harry to grab his cock.

Harry leans him back, the coolness of the comforter is icy against his hot skin. He wraps his legs around Harry's waist unable to move much more as his orgasm builds. He opens his closed eyes to see Harry biting his lip and looking at him, "you look gorgeous like this," Harry says with a smile, his cheeks red and face sweaty. Louis' stomach bubbles and on Harry's next thrust Louis contracts around his cock sending shivers up his spine and a loud moan from Harry's mouth: One that rings in Louis' ears and is enough to have him orgasming. Harry follows shortly after when Louis starts playing with his nipples and trailing his hand down to where Harry's cock is pushing in and out of him.

They're still for a beat, just catching up on breathing, gasping for air. The room comes back into view after the blinding white dissipates and Louis can make out Harry's silhouette sitting back on his ankles, staring. Smiling.

"I suppose this is when I should ask if you'd like me to carry you to the shower?" smiles Harry.

"Mmm, yeah, probably, right?" Louis says slowly peeling himself off of the sheets, trying not to get them any dirtier.

 

Louis wakes up before Harry on Sunday morning. He's breathing against Louis' neck, all quiet and slow. He's burning up with all of the covers, but doesn't move. Instead, he presses closer to Harry, so not an inch of space hinders him from feeling the warmth of Harry's skin against his own. He drifts back to sleep letting Harry's soft snores send him back into a dream.

The door squeaks open just enough for Louis to hear it but not want to open his eyes. The bed shifts slightly, but Harry has yet to move so Louis opens an eye feeling a little confused.

"Hi," Lily whispers. "Is Daddy going to wake up soon?" she asks settling at Louis' feet.

Louis coughs and slowly moves off of Harry's body and rubs his eyes. "I'm not sure, do you need something?" 

"Can we make breakfast?" she smiles with a wide grin, decorated with two dimples like Harry.

"I think that's a great idea, meet you out there?"

Lily nods and climbs off of the bed and out the door.

Louis finds some sweatpants in Harry's drawers and another shirt and slips them on and brushes his teeth then walks out through the house into the kitchen where Lily is waiting with two aprons.

"What'd you have in mind kiddo?" Louis says taking the larger apron and throwing it over his head. Lily turns around and pulls out the strings and Louis bends down to tie them into a bow.

"Pancakes," she says walking toward a door, but is too short to reach the handle. "Can you get my stool, please?"

Louis gets a little purple stool out of the closet and opens it next to the island and searches around for the ingredients. He doesn't usually cook breakfast, but he'll learn very quickly.

"Do you know Harr—your dad's password for his iPad?" Louis asks the little girl who's waiting patiently for Louis to give her a task.

"Try my name and birthday," she smiles.

He types her name, "do you know when you were born?" he laughs. She furrows her brows and Louis can tell she's thinking very hard.

"Mar—March," she proudly says.

"Okay, so three...do you know what day?" She shakes her head 'no'.

Louis looks around for a calendar or something, but doesn't find anything. He opens one drawer that had a bunch of papers in it and one is from Lily's ballet recital. He flips through the pages and finds the only Lily followed by a 'W.' and luckily it has her birthday.

"Twenty-third!" Louis exclaims. He types that in and voila, Harry's iPad is unlocked. "You know, my apartment is 323, too. That's funny."

"You're not going to live here?" she asks him as he hands her some supplies.

"Oh, um, no I live over in Brooklyn," Louis says not sure of how he should word anything. Can a 4-year-old grasp the concept of dating?

"Oh, can I come over one time?"

"I'd love to have you and your dad over, it's way smaller than this though," he laughs.

"Then you should just live here," she says matter-of-factly.

He finds the easiest recipe he can (thank you Food Network) and raids the fridge and pantry for everything they need. She insists on chocolate chips but all Louis can find is some super organic dark chocolate that he decides to smash to bits with a meat tenderizer.

"Do you love my Daddy?" Lily asks him while she's lazily stirring in the chunks of chocolate.

"I, um..." Louis freezes. "I care a lot about him, yes," he settles on.

"Do you kiss him?" she giggles.

Louis lets out a short laugh and teases her hair with his fingers, "sometimes."

"Good. He really needs them," she casually says. "If he kisses your boo-boos that means he loves you. That's what he tells me."

He's not completely sure what she means by that, but he nods and goes back to what he was doing.

Louis' teaching Lily how to whisk the batter when the door to the kitchen swings open and Harry's sleepily rubbing his eyes.

* * *

 

The scene in front of Harry is out of a dream and he has to rub his eyes to make sure it's not fake. Louis is bent over at Lily's side with his hand over hers slowly mixing a bowl of batter while she smiles up at him. There's a bit of flour in each of their hair and a streak of batter on the tip of Louis' nose no doubt put there by Lily.

"Good morning, smells delicious."

"Hi Daddy! Pancakes!" Lily says not even looking at Harry, but continuing to stir and stare at Louis with a purpose as if they were just in the middle of some insanely deep conversation.

"Yum!" Harry rubs his belly and makes his way over to the pair. Louis looks up at him and smiles, his free hand on Lily's back so she doesn't fall off her stool. He grabs one of the already made pancakes and shoves it in his mouth smiling around the sweet taste.

"No eating yet, we worked hard on those!" Louis pouts taking the bowl from Lily and walking toward the stove once Harry has his hand on her.

"Yeah, Daddy, those aren't for  _you_!"

"Oh no? Who's going to eat all of them?" Harry retorts back. He doesn't let Lily answer as he blows raspberries into her neck and she shrieks with laughter. She falls back into his arms and he lifts her and tickles her belly as she flails wildly. 

"Yeah,  _daddy_ , not for you," Louis says glaring at him the word dripping off his tongue. Harry shoots him a warning look and Louis laughs as he pours the batter onto the sizzling pan. _  
_

"Good morning to you, too, geez." Harry sets Lily on the ground and wipes her face with a wet cloth.

"Did you have a fun sleepover?" Lily smiles up at him.

Harry looks up at Louis from where he's kneeling on the ground and winks, "we did, go wash your hands and we'll meet you at the table," he tells her.

She takes her apron off and runs out the door toward her room. Harry gets up and walks over to Louis who's put his attention back to the stove. He's a perfect height for Harry to slot in behind him and rest his chin on his shoulder and arms around his belly. His eyes watching the flip of the golden cakes.

"Morning love," Louis turns to peck Harry on the cheek.

"Morning. I could get used to this," he laughs, but is serious all the same.

Louis clicks off the stove and moves the last of the pancakes to the awaiting dish before turning to face Harry. Grabbing his waist and pulling him in for a kiss as sweet and slow as the maple syrup that's just out of arm's reach. Harry wants to lie him out right then and there on the island and kiss until their lips are swollen and bruised, but this lazy dance is just enough for the early morning. It's everything, really.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry this took two months to update — yikes! thank you for your patience.

Between the stress of rehearsing and promoting his tour to anyone who would listen, the last thing Harry wanted—or needed—was to be scrutinized by Emma. 

He didn't have the time nor the patience to listen to her criticize his parenting skills or hear her snide remarks about how  _she_ would have handled Lily's meltdown after being told no. She'd been on his case since she arrived and she should have just been thankful that Harry even let her stay with them instead of making her get a hotel room.

He put on an act for Lily's sake, he didn't want her to sense any animosity between them — although it seemed to be only one-sided. Every time Harry tried to pull Emma aside so they could discuss the ball she had dropped months earlier, she waved him off with a flick of her dainty wrist and muttered "later" as she went back to talking on her phone to whomever.

But  _later_ was running out and only fourteen days separated Harry and the start of his tour and he wanted Lily with him.

He couldn't imagine already giving Lily up to Emma while he was on tour, it wasn't fair. He already had his lawyers working on an agreement with Emma's, since he was getting nowhere with her after she had told him. It's been weeks and although he didn't understand the terminology, his case seemed weak and it broke Harry's heart to even think about the possibility of losing his daughter.

"That's for a boy," Emma says from her spot next to Lily on the floor. She's coloring a superhero cape onto a princess in a coloring book that Emma had brought her from London. She's already been scolded about it once before, and Harry bites his tongue not wanting to cause a scene.

Harry watches Lily ignore her and silently high-fives himself on her behalf.

So far, Emma has disapproved every aspect of Lily's life in New York. From the way Harry lets her dress herself, to the food he cooks, she's never satisfied. He knows when Lily is in London the environment is very different: private chefs and frilly dresses, Emma is all about status, even when it comes to a child who just wants to eat dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets while wearing a spiderman shirt. 

Harry just wanted Lily to be happy — a four-year-old in her position deserved at least that.

He hates the woman she's become. She used to be so care-free and never worried about status. He loved her because she went against the grain, rarely wore makeup and hated dressing up — and that said a lot for someone like her who is in the public eye. But over the past two or three years, she's taken a dramatic shift, and Harry feels like he's looking and speaking to a stranger. She's been completely consumed by her celebrity, she lives and breathes it, every move she makes is calculated to gain her publicity, and Harry doesn't think that's a good environment for their daughter to grow up in.

It's not until the two of them are alone that she drops yet another bit of information that Harry wishes she would have told him about sooner.

"I want to announce that Lily is my daughter," she says as they sit at the dinner table with cups of coffee. Her French tip nails tap lightly on the China as she makes her declaration to Harry.

Harry clenches his hands around his cup, the heat burning his skin. He's not sure what to say. he's not even sure if he has a say in this at all.

"I think we both should. It's time," she says bringing her cup to her lips, the red lipstick she applied stains the rim of the mug when she removes it from her lips.

"I— I don't know if I want to do that," Harry finally says. "Why now?"

Emma looks up at him with soft eyes and he can almost see a glimmer of the girl he used to know, the girl he thought he fell in love with. But when she blinks her brown eyes shut, it's like that woman just vanishes. 

"Brett asked me to marry him," she smiles, Harry looks at her left hand where a ring should be. "I said yes and I don't want a scandal overshadowing my wedding covers, so we need to come clean."

Harry's biting the inside of his cheek as the words pour from her mouth. He almost  _can't_ believe she's saying this, but yet again, she's just proving to be the woman he's grown to despise.

"So it's not even for Lily's sake...it's so you can get the cover of a magazine," he hisses standing abruptly. Coffee spills out of his cup and splashes on the dark wood of the table as he walks toward the kitchen. "Anything to keep you looking like a fucking saint."

"Don't you dare Harry," she warns as dramatic as ever. "You know I didn't even have to ask!" she screams a minute later — as if she's doing him some sort of favor by bringing it up.

"No, I guess you could have just gone behind my back and played victim and made me look like an asshole, or is that still the plan Emma?" he fires back when he stalks back into the room without his cup.

"Lily deserves a real family, and life and she can't be prancing around the world like every day is a play date," she hisses as if exploiting their child constitutes a  _real family_. "She needs to be better disciplined and mannered."

"Please define  _real_ Emma. What does that mean? A mom and a dad? Heaven forbid she grows up with her gay father."

"I can't do this," she says getting to her feel and picking up her phone. "You'll never understand Harry."

"You will do this," Harry says raising his voice. "You can't keep fucking up my life and deciding you don't want to talk about what you're doing! She's my daughter too!"

She stops in her tracks and Harry barely has a second to move out of the way as her phone comes hurling toward his head. It hits his shoulder and clunks to the hardwood floor.

"I fucked up your life?" she screams, and on cue a television's volume increases. "I had a fucking baby because of you and then you decide that you're gay and _I_ fucked up _your_ life?" she yells even louder not even making a move to retrieve her phone. "I have been nothing but nice about this whole thing Harry!"

"This has been hard for both of us," Harry says diplomatically and not raising his voice this time. "And it's been fine until you wanted complete control of Lily. Your life has been absolutely fantastic Emma. Don't start this bullshit. You have everything you want, you can't just decide things for her or me."

"Like bloody hell I can't," she hisses moving away from the table her heels clinking loudly on the wood.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry says furrowing his brows. "You're going to run to the papers and tell everyone I'm gay and knocked you up so you get sympathy and custody of Lil?"

"If that's what it takes, maybe I will," she says bending down near his foot to grab her phone. Her hair has started falling out of her impeccable bun and some of her makeup is smeared, Harry almost wishes there were cameras around to see her for who she really is.

"You wouldn't..." Harry says cautiously. "Emma?"

"I'm letting everyone know she's our daughter whether you like it or not," she cries as she keeps her gaze locked on Harry. "You can decide if you want to be a part of it or not, I don't care. But if you even want a bloody chance of seeing our daughter, I'd suggest you comply with me."

"Now you're threatening me? Fucking christ, who are you anymore? You're a fucking monster," Harry says shaking his head. Emma slaps his cheek before he can even process her hand coming up. It only stings for a moment.

"Oh it's not a threat, Harry. I can almost  _promise_ you Lily will be back home with me, for good," she smiles a wicked grin at him and walks into the hallway toward Lily's room.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" Harry yells as he moves to follow her. he didn't want to fight, it was the last thing he wanted to do, but his blood is boiling and his hands are shaking — he can't think straight. "Take your fucking prissy ass and toxicity out of my god damn house, right now!"

Emma turns toward him from the few feet away that she is, mouth agape and brow raised, "not without _my_ daughter," she says hand reaching out to Lily's door.

"You're not taking Lily," he growls moving swiftly to get between her and the doorknob. He felt like an animal in the wild trying to protect his young, some beastly spirit inside of him was crawling its way up his chest and he was about to do anything to keep her away from Lily.

"Get out of my way Harry!" She yells trying to push him over, but he's obviously stronger than her and keeps his ground as he hides the door handle behind his lower back. "Keep blocking me, the judge will love it!" she screams as her fists hit into his chest. He doesn't even bother to stop her, almost afraid she'll say he abused her or something if he even touches her for a second. He doesn't even flinch when she low blows him and hits him in the crotch, he just keeps his ground blocking her from getting into the room.

Harry feels the door let up from behind him and he stumbles back into the open room. Sara is standing there and Lily is behind her on her bed playing with her dolls while wearing bright pink headphones. 

"I'm sure he'll also love all of your threats and prescription pill addiction too," Sara says quietly but with a punch as she stands with her hands on her hips. Harry's never seen Sara look so threatening, her usual polite demeanor had been replaced with a cold-hearted stare that was boring through Emma.

Emma stops trying to push past Harry and freezes with her hands on his stomach. She looks insane and Harry hopes Lily isn't looking at her mother.

"Oh yes, I know all about that," Sara says. "And if you think for a minute that I won't go and testify against you, you're quite mistaken."

"You have no proof," Emma throws at her as she tries to blow away the pieces of hair that have fallen in front of her eyes.

"I have plenty," she fires back as Harry stands between the two women. "I know you like to think I'm just the help, but I have ears and eyes too, Emma and I will not hesitate t—."

"YOU BITCH!" Emma screams hurling herself past Harry and toward Sara. "I fucking pay for everything for you how dare you!"

He acts fast to grab Emma's flailing body by her waist, her arms swinging in Sara's direction. Harry catches a glimpse of Lily, her headphones abandoned around her neck, watching them in horror and his eyes start to prickle with tears. He never wanted Lily to ever see any of this.

"Lily we are leaving!" Emma screams as Harry tries to hold her still. 

"I don't want to. I want to stay with Daddy," she chirps clutching her dolls to her chest. "I have more fun with Daddy and Louis. You're scaring me," she cries out.

Emma's perfectly manicured nails dig into the skin on Harry's wrists and the second of pain frees her enough from his grasp. Harry curses and lets go, rubbing the red marks. Harry feels like they're either going to end up on a episode of  _Cops_ or  _Jerry_  after Lily finishes her sentence.  _  
_

"Oh? Who's Louis?" she hisses from where she's standing at the end of Lily's bed trying to gather random things into her ballet bag.

"He loves Daddy," Lily says animatedly, "we have sleepovers."

Harry's heart does a little flip at his daughter's innocent words. "Louis is my boyfriend," he says still standing between her and Sara not even bothering to stop Emma from packing. It's not like he'll let her get an inch closer to the front door with Lily. Especially since she may even be on various medications.

"Great! Let's confuse her some more," Emma groans. "When were you going to tell me that?"

"You have no right to know and she's not confused, she's fine and happy."

"You can't just keep bringing people into her life—"

"Stop! Stop telling me how to raise our daughter," he says raising his voice over the television.  "Lily is fine."

"Emma you should leave," Sara finally speaks up grabbing the bag from her clutch. Harry is grateful for her, can't thank her enough for all that she's done for him and Lily, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to repay her for what she's done for them tonight.

It takes another 20 minutes of Lily crying and refusing to want Emma to even kiss her goodbye for Emma to leave. Cursing the entire time, threatening Harry as if he had brutally beat her in front of Lily. But at least now as bad as it seems, with Sara's blackmail, Harry has bought some time to figure things out and discuss his plan of action with Niall. 

Lily is in his arms the second the door is locked and he apologizes again and again, even if she doesn't really understand what was going on. He makes her some chocolate milk and reads her a story to get her back into bed, hoping she'll fall asleep quickly.

It's only a matter of hours until word has gotten out that Emma was at Harry's, and now his anonymity has been shattered as people flock to the front of his apartment building. He doesn't even dare leave for the rest of the night, thankful twilight will be approaching.

* * *

Louis figured Harry would call him by now even though it's nearing midnight. He hadn't talked to him all day, knowing he wanted to spend it with Lily. He wasn't aware that Emma was in town — not that Harry _had_ to tell him. Judging by the photos of the woman leaving the building, she seemed angry, and although she looked put together, Louis could tell something didn't seem right.

His mind immediately goes to Lily, that there must be something going on with her and he wants to ask, but doesn't feel like it's his place. So he waits. Checking his phone every few minutes, making sure the volume is up, just in case. He tries to pay attention to the movie him and Zayn are watching, but the plot is boring and his popcorn is cold.

"Just fucking call him," Zayn laughs while knocking their knees together on the couch. "You haven't even been paying attention to the movie."

"Sorry," Louis frowns, "I just feel like something is off...ya know?" 

 Louis gets up during a loud car crash and shuts his bedroom door behind him and presses Harry's name.

Voicemail.

"Um, hey it's me. Sorry it's so late, just wanted to see how you were doing...hope you and Lil had a good day. Call me back."

Louis stays up till a quarter after one, before deciding to put his phone on silent and go to bed. He's gotten so used to sharing a bed, that it feels empty and big without Harry in it. It's only been a few days since he slept over, but Louis misses his warmth all the same. He's not really sure what he's going to do once Harry leaves for tour — he tries not to think about it too much.

:: 

There's an ever increasing knock ringing in Louis' ears as he starts to wake up. He's trying to figure out if it's just his shitty neighbors, the TV or, no wait, yeah it's their front door.

"Zaynnnn," Louis groans not even above a whisper as he tries to telepathically tell Zayn to answer it because there is no way in hell he is getting out of bed right now.

He hears the door squeak open and applauds Zayn for answering it, but quickly takes it back when his bedroom door swings open and the light flushes into his otherwise dark room.

"For you," Zayn says louder than he has to. "Car is here."

"Huh?" Louis asks groggily.

"Driver is at the door...waiting for you," Zayn says flicking Louis' toes. He hisses and ducks under his pillow. "Get up."

Louis groans again and feels for his phone. It's a little after 8 and there's a text from Harry that just says, "take your time...I know you're not a morning person." He smiles at the words which act as caffeine and he springs out of bed wanting to get dressed as fast as possible if Harry is downstairs.

"Harry sent the car," Louis laughs as he slides out of bed.

"No shit," Zayn responds rolling his eyes as he walks out of the door and Louis hears him tell the driver it might be awhile.

Louis gets ready in record time, not sure where he's going, he dresses in some dark jeans and a white v-neck and grabs his stuff.

He's surprised when he gets to the car and Harry isn't there, but a large cup of coffee sits in the cup holder and it has his name on it and he eagerly reaches for it, the scent waking him up that much more.

"Is this a hostage situation?" Louis jokes with Harry's driver as they make their way over the Brooklyn Bridge.

"I'll get you there in one piece," the man laughs. 

By  _there_ he means Harry's rehearsal space. There's a fairly large group of people outside of the studio — a group that was never there the last few times Louis visited, but he assumes Harry can no longer sneak around N.Y.C. unnoticed after yesterday. Girls scream as their car pulls up and stops in front of the door.

"Harry's asking that you go through the front," his driver says. Louis nods and grabs his coffee and opens the door. The screams grow quiet as he comes into view, "sorry to disappoint," he says laughing as he makes his way to the door.

"Do you know Harry? Is he here?" A young girl asks in a high pitched voice.

Louis' not sure if he should say anything so he just gives a non-committal shrug and goes to the door, where he notices Paul waiting for him.

He can hear Harry singing as they walk down a hallway and into the rehearsal area. The door shuts just loud enough for Louis to notice Lily's head perk up as she starts running toward him from her spot next to Sara on the floor.

"Hey, sweetie," Louis smiles at the child and scoops her up in his arms. She plants a wet kiss to his cheek and squeezes around his neck. It takes only a second for the music to stop abruptly and for Harry to jump off of the stage and jog toward them. 

"Take ten everyone," a voice from the stage says.

Harry's cheeks are flushed red and he's a little sweaty, but his smile is so huge that Louis thinks he looks absolutely breathtaking as he gets closer to them.

"Hey," Harry leans in for a kiss while Louis still has Lily on his hip.

"Hi yourself," Louis says back with an equal peck to Harry's lips.

"Sorry for waking you up so early, Lil wanted to see you," Harry says as he pushes Lily's hair out of her face. 

"You did?" Louis asks looking at her. She nods into his neck and tightens her grip around him as she giggles."I missed you little one." He plants a kiss to her forehead, smiling into it when Harry squeezes his hip. He was still amazed how quickly Lily took to him, as if he's been around for all 1,460 something days of her life.

He puts Lily down when she wants to go back to coloring with Sara, Louis doesn't mind though, it gives him a chance to greet Harry properly. 

"I don't wanna get your clothes gross," Harry whines when Louis pulls him into a hug.

"It's fine," Louis replies squeezing him. "Missed you."

"Sorry I didn't call back.."

"Don't be,' Louis says softly as he pecks Harry's lips.

Most of the crew have ventured out to smoke or get water so it was just the four of them and one or two others in the room when they start kissing. Louis momentarily forgets anything that he was going to ask Harry and just concentrates on the familiarity and softness of his lips.

"I have something to ask you," Harry says pulling back slightly, but not letting go of his hips.

"Yeah?" Louis asks looking up at him. His features are soft, minus one wrinkle between his brows. Louis wants to reach up and smooth it out. So he does.

"Would you be opposed to being seen in public with me more?" he asks softly pressing into Louis' touch. His skin is warm and Louis wants to just pull Harry's body into him and stay like that for the rest of the day.

Louis ponders his question while thumbing over Harry's eyebrow.

"Never," he replies with a smile. "Are you going to like..."

"Come out?" Harry asks. "Trying to. Hence why you walked through the front door."

Harry sits Louis down and explains what is going on with Emma. Louis reassures him that he's making the right choice, and that everything will work out in the end. Even if people think he's just using it as a way to make money during tour, Louis know that the people who have always supported him will continue to do so. Harry kisses him after that.

"I wouldn't want anyone else by my side," he tells Louis. "I want to show you off so badly." Louis laughs at that because he doesn't think there's much to show off, but his stomach flips at the thought of Harry wanting to flaunt him around.

"So you're going to do a one-two-punch, kid and gay all in one day?" Louis asks lightheartedly because Harry's face is still a little tense.

"Basically. Niall thinks it's a good idea to test the waters, have us be seen out more so it's not a huge shock, is that okay?"

"Of course. Whatever you need babe, you know I'm here for you." Louis replies. He can't imagine what it must be like to be Harry. To have the whole world assume he's someone he's not. It was hard enough for Louis to come out to a handful of people, he can't imagine what it's like to do it in front of millions of people — people who are basically allowing him to live his dream and who pay for everything he owns. He will do whatever Harry wants or needs of him, if it makes it easier for him.

Harry looks up from where he's sitting on the ground — he gave Louis the lone chair in the room. He has a sparkle in his eye, as if they were smiling wider than his mouth. Harry goes to speak, then pauses. He scoots closer, between Louis' knees, Louis presses his fingers into his hair and smiles at him when he leans forward and kisses the inside of Louis' arm.

"I'm so in love with you," Louis says as Harry's lips peck his skin.

Harry sits up slightly on his knees and looks up at him, "you beat me too it," he frowns slightly. "I love you. Lily loves you, I love seeing you with her." He whispers and Louis shakes his head bashfully.

"She feels safe with you — I knew the second she looked at you that she felt safe." he admits with watery eyes. "I can't even describe that feeling."

"I love you both, and whatever you need, I'm here," Louis promises. "I'm not going anywhere."

Their Kodak moment is broken by Niall's boisterous voice echoing in the practice space. Louis wants to throw his chair at him.

"Am I interrupting? Too bad. Good morning by the way," Niall says standing above them completely unaware of what had just been professed between the two of them. "I know you leave in two weeks, but practice is being cut short today, have word that Emma is speaking with E! around noon, need your statement prior to that."

"You could just post an Instagram video of you and Lily?" Louis suggests, "quick and viral."

"I should hire you Louis," Niall says patting him on the shoulder. "Harry?"

Harry looks at Louis and then behind him to Lily, "I just, I don't want people knowing what she looks like..."

"Em's going to do it whether you like it or not H...your choice," Niall says in a friendlier tone.

Harry calls Lily over and whispers something to her. Louis scoots off of the chair to give them some privacy. She stays with him for a second as Harry goes and changes into a clean shirt and fixes his hair a little. It's all about the presentation.

"Fifteen seconds Styles," Niall reminds him as he positions his iPhone in his hand. "We can always do a few."

Harry coughs from where he's sitting on the stage and combs his hair with his fingers and nods for Niall to start the video.

"Hey everyone!" He says happily as Lily sits in his lap. "Before any rumors started flying around I wanted to let my fans hear it from my mouth first. This is Lily and the reason she looks like me is because she's my daughter! We'll see you on tour."

"Good?" Harry asks looking up at Niall who nods his head. "I'll write some stuff in the caption."

"It'll do. We can work on a editorial statement as well for publication," he says. "I'll notify Emma's lawyer now and then post it." 

"Do you think I did the right thing?" Harry asks Louis once Niall walked away.

"Like you said, it's better to have come from you, I'm so proud of you."

Louis leans up and takes Harry's face into his hands and kisses him hoping it will say everything words can't.

Harry's phone doesn't stop ringing after that and Niall is surgically attached to his hip at all times. Thankfully, Emma didn't play victim, but still used her soapbox to sound like a saint, proclaiming she just wanted to protect her daughter and her identity and that her and Harry were "good friends." She also used it as a platform to announce her engagement to Brett — which Harry hopes would take some of the microscopes off of him.

"Maybe I should have came out first," Harry groans as they sit in the SUV.

Louis rubs his back and pulls him into his side and kisses his temple. 

* * *

The next week was a blur for Harry. He went from talk show to talk show to talk about Lily. Emma insisted they did most of the appearances together so people would buy the fact that they said they were friends. Harry was happy she could act, because it was difficult for him to be friendly toward her after what had happened at his house. 

Lily was a hit though and everyone from Fallon to the women of The View couldn't get enough of her. Harry was very resistant to even allow her on the shows, but she had told him she wanted to go and that it was okay. He wasn't too surprised that Lily was a natural in front of the camera for the few minutes she was on. Then it was back to hanging out with Sara and Louis backstage while Harry and Emma got grilled with questions — pre-approved ones, of course.

Harry made sure Niall booked him a solo appearance on The Late Late Show because him and James Corden have been friends for a few years after Harry met him when he was a teenager. They'd grown very close over the past few years and if Harry was going to insinuate anything about his sexuality with a host, he wanted it to be James.

"So Harry, now that, what do they call it, your baby momma, is getting hitched," James says with a slight laugh, "how are you doing in the love department, is Lily getting the final say on the people you take home?"

Harry laughs like he's supposed to and runs his fingers through his hair, "Yeah, yeah, she's uh, she's a good judge of character, I'd say," Harry answers. He shifts around and puts his right ankle on his left knee and takes the coffee mug from the table and sips the cold water.

"Does this mean you're seeing someone? Oh do tell Styles," James says leaning in closer, "just whisper it to me, we'll turn down the mic," he laughs and Harry chuckles, too. He leans in like they rehearsed and starts to speak.

"I—yeah, I am," he bites his bottom lip and his voice echoes loudly in the room and he mocks a surprised face. James apologizes for the glitch and urges Harry to continue.

"I've actually been in a relationship for a couple of months," he confesses and a few girls in the crowd boo.

"Oh you've pissed them off now," James jokes, "so how does one win Harry Styles' heart? You a boobs guy or what?"

"That's not really important in someone I'm looking for," Harry laughs hoping some people could decode his words, "someone nice, good sense of humor."

"Well, if you wanted to date me all you had to do was ask," James says batting his lashes and puckering his lips. 

"Cat's out of the bag now," Harry says throwing up his arms in a shrug. 

They banter for a few more minutes and then Harry is finished with his interview and gets ready to perform.

He knew it wasn't the most obvious hint, but he said enough for news sites to speculate even a little, and with Niall's help, there'd be a dozen or so articles questioning his sexuality by the morning. It was going to be a slow process, but Harry was happy that he was finally coming clean even just a little.

::

Lily was staying at a friend's house for a birthday party so Harry stayed at Louis' that night after Louis insisted on it since he went through so much press that day. They ordered in and just lounged around the small apartment, it was perfectly simple and just want Harry had wanted to do as the day was wrapping up.

He was exhausted from the day and had been up since 5 a.m., but the minute Louis' lips were on his, his energy started to come back to him.

"I know you're tired," Louis whispers from his spot in Harry's lap as he lifts Harry's shirt up his torso. Harry lazily raises his arms and Louis pulls it off all of the way. Louis' hands are cool against his shoulders as he rubs his fingers down his arms before settling them both on his chest as he pushes lightly, "lie back."

Harry doesn't resist and falls back against the bed and Louis leans forward with him. Louis' murmuring something into his chest, but he doesn't have the strength to ask what he's saying and just listens to the sound of his lips on his skin as Louis makes his way down his body. Harry's honestly not even sure if he can get hard right now he's so tired, but every peck and soft touch proves otherwise.

Louis moves slow, taking his time to pull Harry's pants downs his legs, lightly stroking him through his underwear before pulling those off as well. Harry's eyes close the second Louis' tongue meets his skin. He pushes his hips up slightly, then back down as Louis lowers his mouth over him.

He doesn't rush and the way his tongue is moving is almost comforting and relaxing as it swirls over his head and presses down his length. Harry rubs Louis's scalp and mews quietly when Louis speeds up a little.

"Feels really nice," Harry whispers. He opens his legs more, inviting Louis in closer. He honestly could probably fall asleep in this very moment even though he's incredibly turned on.

As if Louis knows, he slowly lifts his mouth off of Harry and crawls up his body and starts to kiss his neck and suck the skin. Harry can feel Louis pressed against him and his instincts take over as he reaches for Louis' hips and dips his fingertips between clothes and skin.

"Oh so we are awake?" Louis asks into his neck.

"Mhm...little bit," Harry says softly as he swipes his hand over Louis' crotch.

"Do you want to have sex or just this? Your choice." Louis asks kindly even though when he's not talking he's bruising Harry's skin.

"Sex," Harry answers squeezing his hand. "Ride me?"

"You have enough energy for that?" Louis snickers into his neck, "be able to hold me?"

Harry was able to hold him, although he did get some help from the headboard he was leaning up against and the extra bit of energy he got from watching Louis open himself up was helpful, as well. He could have just came from watching that. Seeing Louis press his fingers into himself as Harry kissed his thighs and nipped the skin. He couldn't help but to lend a hand—or finger in this case—until Louis was squirming enough to let Harry know he was ready.

They fucked slowly and Harry was amazed by how much control Louis had of his hips and rhythm. The way it felt when Louis lifted himself off of Harry's cock in perfectly timed increments that drove Harry insane was almost as good as when he decided to twist his hips in different directions and patterns that made him want to hold Louis still and thrust up hard. He didn't though, and just let Louis have complete control. It was the best decision he made that night. 

"Really love riding you, good idea," Louis laughs as he moves. Harry still was baffled that he could speak full sentences while they had sex. Harry could barely utter anything more than a few words at a time.

"Yeah, so good," Harry replies. His hands found their way to Louis' ass, he loves lightly feeling where his cock entered Louis, it made his stomach do somersaults. He kisses the part of Louis' chest that's level with his mouth, his skin is salty and slightly sweaty, but Harry thinks he tastes like heaven. 

'Want you to come baby," Louis says starting to speed up his movements. Harry squeezes his ass harder and abandons trying to kiss him and just focuses on the feeling of being inside of Louis. He does this thing where he rolls his hips in a deep wave-like motion, and Harry still can't figure out how he does it, but it gets him every time.

"Fuck—Lou, shit, so close now," Harry stutters. Louis' moving the quickest he has all night and Harry tries his best to hold onto him as he moves, but it proves useless when Louis grabs his wrists and forces them against the mattress. 

"Open your eyes, watch me," Louis groans with a pop to his hips that shoots Harry's eyes open, "love you," he says when their eyes meet.

And well, yep, that sort of  _does it_. Two words shouldn't have this effect on him, but when they're paired with Louis fucking himself on his cock, it's exactly what Harry needs to come. His voice is deep and gravely as he moans with his head thrown back against the headboard. 

Louis' still in his lap when Harry feels the wetness of Louis' come against his stomach and a quiet grunt spills from his lips.

"Coulda blown you," Harry mumbles looking down at his wet stomach then up to Louis.

"Couldn't wait," Louis smiles. He leans forward and pecks Harry's lips. "Hand me your shirt."

Harry does and Louis lifts off of Harry and wipes himself down. He clears his throat loudly a minute later.

"What?" Harry asks as he draws circles into Louis' skin. 

"I'm waiting..." he says in a mock angry tone. He can't even think about moving to shower right now.

"For?" Harry raises a brow at him and Louis rolls his eyes. "Oh..I love you, too. Sorry was a little preoccupied with my orgasm."

Louis laughs and leans over for another kiss, "love you more."

"Hm, I don't think so," Harry smiles at him. "But I'm okay with you trying to prove it."

"I plan on it."

They FaceTime with Lily before she heads to sleep with her friends, and Harry's heart aches knowing his daughter isn't with him tonight — he has worse separation anxiety than her. Louis had to convince him not to go over to the Garner's house to tuck her in and that she was perfectly fine with all her little friends. Harry fell in love that much more when Lily blew Louis a kiss and told him she loved him after saying it to her father.

He felt so unbelievably lucky, and now almost couldn't wait to share his love with the rest of the world. Hopefully, they'd be as happy as he was.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

"It went well though, yeah?" Louis asks as he balances the phone between his ear and shoulder. He regrets only taking a hand basket instead of a cart as he fumbles a loaf of bread in his free hand.

"As well as it could I suppose," Harry's voice answers back through the phone. "I hear terrible elevator music, where are you?"

"I'm—fuck—hold on," Louis groans dropping the bread on the dirty linoleum. He grabs the phone from his shoulder, and bends over to pick it up and exchange it out for a new one. "Grocery shopping...doing adult things," he says in a curt tone.

Him and Zayn had a habit of waiting until there was absolutely nothing left in their apartment before they went grocery shopping, and since Louis had spent the last few days with Harry, they were down to the bare minimum necessities. Louis figured he wouldn't need to make dinner Friday through Sunday since those were the first nights of Harry's tour and he was hoping dinner would be provided — by a real chef.

It was Monday, and Harry had been at court all day battling for custody of Lily. Louis still felt like Harry had no reason to tell him what the outcome was, but that didn't stop him from pacing around all day, his nerves getting the best of him.

As Louis walked down the cereal aisle Harry told him that, for now at least, the original custody details would stay how they were. Harry would be able to bring Lily with him on tour and be her primary caregiver for the next six months. Louis thought the decision probably had to do with Sara's confession about Emma, but he didn't ask. He let tears cloud his eyes as Harry talked, the cereal names going out of focus as he blinked the tears away.

A tap on the shoulder startles him.

"Hey, hold on a sec," he address Harry, then puts the phone against the front of his shoulder. "Can I help you?"

There was a teenage girl with long blonde hair blinking quickly at him, phone clutched in one hand and a very, very slight blush across her face.

"Um," the word vibrates against her sticky pink lips and Louis tries not to roll his eyes, "Are you Louis? Like friends with Harry Styles Louis? I follow you on Twitter...and Instagram...are you him? Because you were wearing this jacket yesterday in your photo, so it's you right?" she asks.

Louis blinks once at the girl. He wants to have some fun. "Yes, actually I'm in the middle of a conversation with him right now, so is that all you need or?"

"Oh. My. God! You're on the...right now? she asks and Louis swears he sees her fingers twitch forward as if she was literally going to pry his phone out of his hand.

Louis thinks he can hear laughing through his phone as he nods his head forward.

"I totally ship you guys, like so much," she laughs and Louis has no idea what the hell she's talking about. "Can you tell him Jacey says hi?"

Louis is confused as to why this girl is still talking him after he turned away from her to go back to deciding which cereal to buy. He clears his throat and puts the phone back to his ear.

"Still there? Good, um ran into a fan of yours....Jen....says hi." He hears the girl groan and yell her name and Harry laughs on the other end. Louis doesn't look at the girl again and walks toward the end of the aisle away from her as her mom yells for her to stop talking to strangers. _Teenagers_.

He's noticed over the past few days that more people have been paying attention to him. He didn't really think anyone would care who the random guy in Harry's uploaded photos were. Apparently they do care. His follower counts have gone up by the thousands, and although him and Harry aren't posting anything too incriminating, he still gets shy when Harry'll upload a shot of him when he's not looking and only sees it hours later on his feed.

Now that Louis was part of Harry's world, he had to adjust quickly. He didn't realize the business behind it all. How every little thing Harry does has an impact and is scrutinized. He remembers two nights ago he was on Harry's phone while he was in the bathroom and decided to be a dick and tweet a YouTube video of sweaty men Hula-Hooping with "practicing for tour" accompanying it. It got thousands of retweets and a handful of articles — Louis thought it was insane how quickly people jumped on everything he said and did.

Niall has sort of helped Louis give his social media profiles a makeover. He insisted Facebook must be private, but Twitter and Instagram were great ways to help ease him into the picture. Harry has started making it pretty obvious that Louis was who he was dating, but the tabloids were insisting otherwise. He'd only been seen out with girl friends a few nights, but it was enough to get people talking about which girl was the lucky one to take him off of the market. Little did they know that it was a completely different mysterious brunette crawling into bed with Harry at night.

::

"Lou please?" Harry begged. Of course he wasn't begging in the way Louis  _wants_  him to beg or in the situation he'd love to hear those words drip from his mouth. Instead, Harry was tied to a chair (again, unfortunately not in  _that_ way) with pink ribbon and a manic child running circles around him screaming, "TRAITOR!"

Lily had taken it upon herself to go AWOL on Harry after he refused to let her go with them to the theater that night because she didn't eat all of her dinner. Obviously Harry was not going to let his daughter miss The Lion King, but she didn't know that as her temper tantrum was in full swing.

"We literally need to be there in less than an hour," Harry says with a stern tone as he tries to undue his hands. A few minutes earlier, Louis had watched Lily skillfully trick her father into giving her his wrists and before he knew it, he was bound. "Please untie me...or you really won't go."

"Louis and I will go instead," she says stopping her feet. "You can stay here and think about what you did, Daddy!"

Louis laughs at this and really does try his best to distract her so that he can untie Harry. But every time he goes to reach for the ribbon Lily bites his hand. He values his fingers, a lot, he wasn't going to risk losing a pinky.

After five more minutes of negotiating (they agreed on dessert for breakfast for a week), Harry is free and the three of them make their way outside to the awaiting car. Lily jumps in first and then Harry, and Louis closes the door. He doesn't want to get ahead of himself, but he actually feels like a little family. It warms his chest up and his buttoned-up Saint Laurent shirt (courtesy of Harry this time) squeezes tighter around his chest.

Louis didn't know what he was expecting when they sat in the theater, but the second the lights dimmed, Harry grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers. A shot of lightning catapulted itself up Louis' body as Harry squeezed his hand, not letting go the entire night. They were in plain sight, surrounded by people on all sides. Louis felt very aware of everyone, regardless if they were paying attention. 

It wasn't until intermission that Louis realized word had spread about Harry being there. Thankfully, they were brought backstage to meet the cast, away from the murmurs and stares.

Louis tried to keep his eyes on Lily as she went around introducing herself to all of the performers, but he couldn't help keeping his eyes locked on Harry, instead. Harry was beaming as he watched his daughter prance around the room and talk to everyone as if she's known them for ages. Louis' heart swelled even bigger when one of the male performers whispered in his ear about Harry being a catch and how jealous he was that Louis snagged him. Louis smiled, not divulging any information.

Harry posted their group picture to Instagram once they left the theater. Louis counted about seven flashes as they made their way to the car. Hand in hand with Lily asleep on Harry's hip.

Things were really about to change now. 

* * *

Harry knew it wasn't the official plan, it was supposed to happen after the Garden shows. There had just been something about that night, seeing Louis dressed up and giving his undivided attention to Lily that made him throw all caution to the wind and break the glass that's been surrounding him for years.

It was out. The photos and news about him and Louis was everywhere. He was out. And the world was still spinning. His phone on the other hand, was working overtime. Louis turned it off after Harry wouldn't stop silencing it as they ate breakfast.

"First show tonight," Louis smiled at him through a bite of his waffle. "Nervous?"

He wasn't really. Not to play at least. he was hoping when he walked on stage there would still be people in the arena, hoped all 15,000+ fans didn't burn their tickets. Niall had taught him well when it came to not looking for hate. Yes, there were more than enough rude comments left on his various accounts, but for the most part, things were unchanged. Even if it was all to end today, Harry would have been happy, and proud. He already had everything he needed sitting in front of him (and sleeping upstairs).

"As long as you're there, I won't be nervous," Harry finally says, reaching across to touch Louis' hand.

"I'll have you know, my sisters called me bitching that I didn't warn them we were together," Louis smiles a sleepy grin. "They're very jealous and apparently the only way I can make it up to them is if they can meet you."

Harry chuckles as he thumbs across Louis' skin, "Tell them they'll have front row center seats when I come down there and we'll hang out before the show starts," he says with a smile. "That should hopefully do the trick."

"Lou?" Harry says shaking his hand after he didn't respond.

"Sorry...just thinking about you meeting my family. I feel like I should be there for that..."

"Come with me then? I'll fly you out," Harry offers standing to grab their empty plates. "I don't know how I'm going to survive without seeing you."

"You're not," he laughs. "But we got this."

::

Louis had absolutely insisted on pre-show sex that afternoon. Who was Harry to argue with when Louis so gracefully stripped himself of his clothes as Harry finalized last-minute details for the concert and sent out a few fan service tweets reminding them that the first show would be live streamed on his site.

"I think your adoring fans get the point," he growled, literally growled as he sat on the edge of Harry's bed with nothing but his glasses on. Which was totally unfair, because Louis knew damn well what that did to him and he stood no chance when he looked up from his phone.

"You're going to make me late for my show," Harry says trying to act like Louis' nakedness was having no affect on him, but he gave himself away every time.

"If you insist," Louis says making a show of stretching his body across the length of Harry's bed. As if nonchalantly draping the green throw blanket over his middle was going to ward Harry off of his pursuit. Oh no, he was going to wreck Louis in the best possible way now. Especially since he's being the worst tease of all time.

Harry had only been wearing a pair of tapered Nike sweatpants so he didn't have to take much off when he climbed up the bed next to Louis. He waited though, kept them on as he didn't utter another word, but pressed his lips to Louis' shoulder. He could feel Louis trying to keep his coy demeanor — Harry could shatter it easily. He kisses the front of Louis' shoulder and makes his way down his ribs, the skin rippling each time his lips presses against Louis' body . Louis shifted slightly on the bed, curling his left hand in Harry's hair.

"So proud of you," Louis says slowly, "can't wait to see you on stage."

Harry just hums back against his side, flicking the blanket off of him as if it was insulting his very being. Louis doesn't say much after that. Too busy fisting Harry's hair and squirming around the bed as Harry takes him down his throat. Straining his thighs as he stretches them wider, enough for Harry to have the most perfect view of every inch of his boyfriend's body. 

Louis tastes better than any expensive wine that's ever touched Harry's lips, more intoxicating, too. He could spend a lifetime just savoring his skin,  _fuck_ he worshipped his body. Harry made Louis turn over on his hands and knees so that he could spread him wider and give his mouth a better angle. Louis' body shivers beneath him even though he was sweating. Harry couldn't make out the words Louis was groaning into the mattress, but his mantra was getting louder with each lick or touch of his wetted fingers. 

Harry cracks first. The want and need of being inside Louis too much to bear even though he knew Louis could still take more teasing. He sighed almost in relief after opening Louis up, that much closer to what he wants. Louis was so good to him as he pulled his fingers out for the last time, Louis' moan still echoing in his ears as he prepped himself then pushed his cock into Louis. 

"Har—harry, fuck, god." Louis groans, his legs unstable for only a moment until Harry grabs hold of his hips and thrusts in deeper. Harry's chest constricts as he presses into Louis, feeling him tighten around him as he presses himself back into Harry, asking for more. 

"So good, baby, fuck so amazing," Harry says with his mouth pressed to Louis' back. He leans himself off of Louis' skin for a moment so that he can grab his hips and force Louis back and forth — the sound of their skin meeting claps like thunder.

Things heat up quickly after that, and Harry's hands are sliding over Louis' body as his sweat soaks his skin. Then Louis does this thing where he turns his head to meet Harry, his glasses long gone, hair plastered to his forehead, cheeks red and lips swollen from biting them too hard. he's wrecked, and quiet, barely muttering a curse in the past minute. Harry knows he's close, they both are. Harry positions them so that he's kneeling, legs folded with Louis' back pressed against his front, so that he has easier access to him.

"Gonna come soon, baby? Look so good like this," Harry praises him. Louis nods, his voice hoarse as he answers back. Harry goes to touch Louis, his cock as warm as the rest of his body. "Wish I could blow and fuck you at the same time," he says.

"Mhmm...fuck," Louis groans as Harry works his cock faster after he's rewet his hand with the lubricant. He's moving his body in time with Harry's strokes so Harry just lets him bounce on him as he gets Louis' off. "God—fuck, shit Harry," Louis groans. "Gonna—"

Harry thinks he moans louder than Louis when he feels the wetness on his fingers. He doesn't even think twice before nudging Louis' shoulder with his nose and then brings his fingers to his lips as Louis watches him lick his come off. Louis tightens himself around Harry's cock at the sight and it feels like it's suffocating Harry, but in a way he can't describe — it feels too good to function.

"Fuck," Harry murmurs as he reaches his orgasm, middle finger dangling from his mouth.

They stay like that for a minute. Frozen in time until it's too much for Harry to still be inside of Louis and he pulls off. 

::

The only other feeling that's almost as satisfying as having sex with Louis is being on stage and hearing tens of thousands of people singing the songs he wrote back to him. The crowd was deafening as the Harry's silhouette washed over the stage as the music blared throughout the arena. He gave one final look off stage to Louis, before he made his way up to the box where Lily and Sara were, mouthing "I love you" just as the curtain dropped and his figure was revealed.  

Harry missed the stage, yearned to be back up there sweating and singing his heart out. It felt different this time, knowing he was more _him_ than he'd been in years. Faces were staring back at him as wide-eyed and excited as they have always been and he realized everything was going to be okay. It may not be perfect...not yet, but god did he feel so much better not lying. He gave everything he could muster that first night, knowing people were waiting for him to fail or crack or do something to prove the critics right. But he sang as if it was his last show ever, sang like he had more to prove than ever before. 

He wanted to do this forever, but he also found himself counting down the songs knowing it was getting him closer to being with Lily and Louis. He couldn't imagine not having either of them waiting for him after a show. He never wanted to know what it was like to come off stage with no one to go to.

* * *

"So I have to ask," Louis says curled up with Harry in his bed on the brink of sleep.

"Hm?" Harry hums as he scoot back closer to Louis' chest. They were both exhausted, and Louis knew he only had a few more minutes of Harry being conscious enough to respond.

"I know you're obsessed with Harry Potter, so Lily..."

"No, not named after his mom," Harry interjects with a yawn. "Everyone thinks that, but no."

"Okay," Louis laughs kissing the back of Harry's shoulder. Even though he was bigger, Harry insists on being the little spoon. Louis sort of loved it even though he always gave him a hard time about it.

"Would Zayn be mad if you moved in?" Harry asks next. Louis' heart jumps in his chest. "I mean like after tour, or like next year?" Harry adds a beat later.

"Um, I...I suppose not," Louis says with a smile across his face. "You really want me to move in?" He feels Harry shaking his head before the word come out. Louis pecks kisses to Harry's skin, smiling into each kiss.

"I don't plan on ever letting you out of my sight once I'm back from tour, so it'll just be easier for everyone if you're just here all of the time," Harry explains as if he actually needs to convince Louis.

"I'd like that, yeah." Louis ponders and he squeezes Harry's middle. "I want to get closer to Lil, too, watch her grow up and stuff."

Harry turns over at that and smiles the widest smile Louis' ever seen. He kisses Louis, mumblings "I love you" over and over again into his mouth.

"Is it too soon to tell you I want lots of babies?" Louis giggles pecking Harry's lips.

"Me too. Lily needs some siblings stat," Harry smiles. 

If Louis was to be asked a few months ago if he'd ever consider discussing children with someone he's only been dating two months he would have laughed in their face. But it was so natural with Harry, like talking about this was the next step in their relationship when they still haven't even met each other's parents. Louis didn't think they were moving too fast, maybe with anyone else he would have. There was just something so special in Harry. The way he made Louis feel and act as if he was the only other person worth caring about besides his child.

"We can work on that when you get back," Louis half-joked. "You should probably meet my mom first."

"Then BABIES!" Harry yells as he rolls on top of Louis laughing as he squishes him.

Lily comes into Harry's room a few minutes later while he's (thankfully only) tickling Louis. She insists on joining and Louis screams in protest as he tries to tickle Lily back. Their laughter fills the room and Louis doesn't think he could get much happier than he is right now.

Harry falls asleep first, and Lily is surprisingly still awake as she cuddles between them as Louis watches Harry's huge flatscreen on the lowest volume.

She asks Louis a question before drifting off to sleep, one that makes Louis's heart beat in double time, and a sweat wash over his palms. She's asleep before he can give her an answer. Which is good, because he's not really sure how to answer the question.

Sara must have grabbed Lily from Harry's room earlier in the morning because Harry was wrapped against Louis' body, all warm and breathing heavily into his skin. He didn't want to leave his warmth, but him and Zayn had a few jobs to get to and Louis wasn't going to make him clean alone. He shut his alarm off and rolled over to face Harry. Tracing lines down his chest with his finger, he willed him awake after a few minutes.

"I have to go to work," Louis pouts with his thumb pressed against Harry's sternum. I'll meet you at the venue?"

Harry blinks a few times, still a little dazed with slumber and nods with a small yawn. Louis kisses his nose and Harry pulls Louis in by the bum and squeezes him in a hug.

"Love you, miss you already," he lazily smiles and Louis laughs at him.

"Love you too," he replies groaning as he unclasps Harry's hands from his waist. If he doesn't leave now, he never will and Zayn will kill him.

"Want me to call a car?" Harry asks rolling over.

"No babe, I'll get a cab," Louis smiles as he grabs some clothes from 'his drawer' in Harry's wardrobe.

He's already been getting a lot of shit from people now that it's know that he's dating Harry. Either people wondering why he still works when his boyfriend is a millionaire or people scoffing at the fact that Harry would date someone in his line of work. The latter comes from strangers with nothing else to do, and the former from his friends who think he finally made his Gatsby dream come true and should fold the business.

But Louis' not like that. He's worked hard to get where he is and of course everything with Harry is perfect, but as of now, his job is more permanent than his relationship. The only thing he has thought about is hire a few more employees so that him and Zayn could be more on the business side of things instead of cleaning. 

He was worried about what would happen when people found out just who Harry Styles was dating. He knew people would pry into his personal life, and he didn't think he'd feel offended by it, but it's really weird when he sees things written about him or his family. Niall's been really good about keeping most of it off limits to the media, but it doesn't stop Harry's fans from prying into Louis' life. His sisters have already started enjoying the second-hand fame though and have even gotten asked to promote various fashion sites and brands. He was mad at them at first for agreeing without consulting him, but they promised that they'd give a lot of the money to their parents to help them out.

Louis on the other hand, has been approached in the last 24 hours by every gossip news outlet on the market for an exclusive interview. So much so that he had to change his number and hire one of Niall's associates to deal with the press. They've (well, Harry really) been offered obscene amounts of money to be on the cover of a few weekly magazines, but they've denied them all. Louis thinks it's crazy how people feel like they have a right to know anything.

The only thing Harry did do, which was seen by Louis via his Facebook feed, was give a statement through The Trevor Project's site. Leave it to Harry to use his personal experience to help others — Louis may have fallen that much more in love.

And it's not like  _everyone_ in NYC gives a shit who he is. It's really just a special niche of people who either passionately adore Harry or those who keep on every ounce of celebrity news. Most days he was fine going out and about on his own, but now, if him and Harry were to be together and spotted at cafe or a store, things would definitely get a bit wild. 

Louis likes being back in his world though, one filled with the scent of cleaning supplies and the sound of a vacuum. Him and Zayn fall perfectly back into their routine, joking about the obscene artwork on the walls of this particular mansion.

"Did Harry tell you yet?" Zayn asks as he's dusting in one of the living rooms, and Louis' across the room cleaning the hardwood floors.

"Tell me what?" Louis inquires.

"He kept his word. I got a call from Sony about my music...Harry sent it out," Zayn says with a pep in his words.

"Holy shit no way!" Louis yells jumping up from the floor and running over to Zayn.

"They want to hear more!" Zayn smiles with excitement in his voice, "I'm going to meet with them Monday!"

Louis is so happy for Zayn and amazed, but not surprised, that Harry pulled through for him. Zayn's always had the talent, just never the means to get his music heard by the people who mattered. He couldn't be more thankful or proud of the men in his life.

"You're going to get signed I know it," Louis reassures Zayn, "how could they not?"

"What about this though?" he says pointing to their supplies. He loved Zayn for many reasons and his loyalty was one of them. He would never leave Louis stranded no matter what, but Louis on the other hand, wanted to see his best friend succeed doing what he loved.

"Maybe we could hire more people, I dunno, we'll figure it out," Louis says hugging his friend again. 

They finish up and decide to spend the rest of the day milling about the city with no real direction. Talking about any and everything, retelling stories they've heard a million and one times or witnessed for themselves. A part of Louis missed the normalcy of the life he had before he thought the grass was greener —which it so was— but it was also weird to be recognized by people while him and Zayn ate lunch. Louis joked that soon Zayn would be approached by hoards of fans and his friend smiled and punched him in the shoulder. 

"I'm going to introduce Harry to my parents I think," Louis says between bites.

"Getting serious, yeah? They'll love him," Zayn says.

"I'm going to fly down when his tour stops there and yeah, introduce them...kinda nervous," he laughs.

Zayn tells him that he has nothing to worry about, and Louis knows it's true. His parents are some of the nicest and most welcoming people on earth, everything will be fine.

"So Lily asked me something the other night and I haven't told Harry yet," Louis says a few minutes later once their plates have been cleared and their water glasses refilled.

"Yeah?"

"It's so silly, but like, she asked if I was going to be her new dad and I didn't know how to respond," Louis reveals. His hands started to sweat again as he repeated Lily's words to Zayn.

Zayn awws and sips his water, "that's really cute actually, why haven't you told Harry?"

Louis shrugs and pulls at the napkin on the table, "I dunno, just seems so soon for her to ask that, was just going to forget about it."

Zayn gives him a look and doesn't say anything else until they're walking around a music store that Zayn loves. Louis' flipping though some old records trying to remember some of the artists whom Harry has gushed about. He figures he probably already owns them all, but a Beach Boys album sticks out to him and he grabs it and puts it under his armpit.

"Do you want to be her dad?" Zayn whispers while leaning against the C-CH bin of records. 

"I want to be in her life as much as possible," Louis settles on. "Christ it's been like two months," he shakes his head. They really were moving fast and it has seemed fine, until someone else starts talking about it.

There was no doubting that both Harry and Lily meant the absolute world to Louis. But things have been fairy-tale like so far, and everything really was going to change once Harry left New York to tour. Louis wasn't sure how he was going to handle his absence even though he's put on a brave face thus far. He hoped they'd be fine doing the long distance thing, but Harry's world was so crazy, and he had so much to do that Louis was scared that he'd be put on the back burner, forgotten about. 

It was a worry he never wanted to voice to Harry. But it was one he replayed over and over again in his mind: Him sitting on his bed with Skype open waiting for Harry to answer. Minutes pass and nothing. Maybe an hour goes by and Louis calls him and he doesn't answer and then come next morning there are photos of Harry out and about at some party or night club, too wrapped up in his world to answer. He was so scared of that outcome, terrified that their relationship would crumble the further Harry traveled away from Louis. It might have been ridiculous to think, but the truth was, Louis still didn't completely know Harry. He knew every freckle and every scar, he knew how to make him scream and whimper, but there were still aspects of his life and personality that were a mystery. A mystery that came with only knowing someone for a few short months. 

It's been so easy to fall hard and fast for him when the environment has been ideal, when Harry has made it so easy to love him. Louis has never felt like this before, has only been in love one other time and it didn't even come close to the feelings he had for Harry. Something inside him told him Harry was it, the one, but he didn't want to get ahead of himself anymore than he has. He had to come back down from the clouds before he was completely swept off of his feet.

He almost felt cheated, that Harry would be gone for so long and they'd miss out on life together, but Louis knew that this is what he was getting himself into. Knew the repercussions of agreeing to be Harry's boyfriend. He could only blame himself for the feeling in the pit of his stomach as he kissed Harry for the last time until they saw each other again in two months. He hoped and prayed that they'd indeed make it that long. He didn't want to let go, didn't want to forget the taste, the feel, the warmth of Harry's body and lips. He could have easily dropped everything and got on that plane with him, but he had a job and a life in New York he couldn't just pause for the sake of a boy. He never wanted one person to become his whole world; it was unhealthy, so even when Harry pleaded for Louis to join him, he had to object, even though he wanted it more than anything.

If they were going to do this, they were going to do it the hard way. If they could make it through this, then Louis knew it was worth it, that Harry was worth it. 

 


	6. Chapter 6

The first month was the hardest, hell, the first week was the toughest thing Louis thinks he's ever had to deal with. After being so used to always having Harry there, Louis had to relearn how to be alone.

And okay, he wasn't totally  _alone_ , he had Zayn: The best friend he's been neglecting for too many weeks because he was so caught up in love and the facade of a new life. 

It took a bit of persuading for Zayn to finally forgive him for being such a dick. His silent treatment lasted a whole week until Louis finally succumbed to old-fashioned begging on his knees and spoiling Zayn with gifts in hopes to see his friend smile and speak to him. Little did Louis know that it would have taken four words to get Zayn back.

"I want a tattoo," Louis said to no one in particular. He didn't even realize Zayn had been in the kitchen when he started thinking out loud.

"Come again?" Zayn yells and Louis can hear him stomping into the adjoining living room where he's sitting sprawled out on the couch, hand under his hoodie rubbing his belly as the TV drones.

Louis shakes his head, startled by Zayn and coughs, "yeah, I wanna get one...be sick right?" He adjusts his position on the couch so that Zayn can squeeze in next to him.

"You cry getting your eyebrows waxed and you want a tattoo?" Zayn laughs, and  _hey_ he promised he wouldn't mention that...it was one time. "We can go today if you have something in mind, Josh is working, he'll do it."

Louis thought about it for a minute and nodded his head, "let's do it," he smiled, "fuck it, I'm gonna finally do it."

::

 _whywhywhywasidoingthis_ Louis thought to himself as Josh showed him to the chair. He was absolutely shitting himself and sweating out of every pore on his body.  He wish he'd brought an extra shirt because his current one was stuck to his back and chest and he prayed that his 24-hour antiperspirant did its job.

Being the best friend that he was, Zayn obviously could see right through Louis' fake confidence and started cracking a few jokes and plugged his phone into the speaker and started playing Louis' favorite song. 

"We'll do the screw and triangle first since they're small and you can let me know if you still want the other one," Josh says as he gets his supplies ready. Louis takes a deep breath in and removes his Vans and positions himself how Josh asked.

Zayn and him decided on matching screw tattoos on their ankles and Louis watched Zayn get his done moments before. He didn't even flinch or blink or anything during the two-minute sitting. Meanwhile Louis was about to pass out, so he was glad he was now sitting down and drinking some cold water.

Josh moves Louis' ankle into position with his gloved hands while Zayn scoots closer to him on a roller chair and grabs his hand. Louis held his breath as Josh turned the gun on and dipped it into the black ink. There was no going back now.

 

"Wasn't too bad right?" Zayn laughs as he rubs Louis' back as he sits with his head between his knees in one of the parlor's empty rooms. "You're only a little green, man."

Louis' ankle and right forearm were absolutely throbbing in pain and it takes him back to when he had gotten braces in 10th grade and wanted to rip them off of his teeth because it was so painful. That was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling right now.

"I don't—I don't know how you guys have so many," Louis stammers. He blinding reaches for his water and is met with it and Zayn's hand. 

"You did better than I thought you would. If that means anything," Zayn laughs, "and they look sick as hell, so there's that!"

Once Louis' heart is beating at a normal pace and he doesn't feel as dizzy, he takes a look at his wrapped arm and tries to remember what the tattoo looked like before Josh covered it.  _Oh yeah_. He got this dumb little stick figure skateboarding that was modeled after a doodle he'd drawn a million and one times. Not the most meaningful tattoo in the world, but he liked it. And he couldn't wait to show Harry. 

"And now we're blood brothers," Louis laughs as he moves his ankle around, "thanks for everything, Z."

Zayn rolls his eyes at him and gives him a hug and ten minutes later Louis is finally able to stand and walk out of the parlor. 

Zayn treats Louis to a lunch of burgers and beer and they get to talking about the business and its fate.

"We've had a few offers to be bought out, but I know it'll lose most of our clients," Louis says between bites, "I'd rather stay working though."

Zayn nods and wipes his face with his napkin and takes a long sip of his drink. Louis can tell something is up, but he'll wait for Zayn to say it.

"I sold some of my songs," he smiles sheepishly at Louis, "well like all of them."

"What?!" Louis yells and plates and forks clink around them, "but..."

"I realized I'd rather be behind the scenes, I'm not cut out to ya know like be famous or whatever, so I cut a deal with Sony and some of their labels and shit and selling my work," Zayn explains. "Harry's opening video for his tour is actually one of my beats."

Louis is proud and amazing and shocked and completely speechless right now.

"I was waiting to tell you, I'm like on the payroll now," he laughs again, "I've been like churning out stuff for them like every week and some pretty big names have taken a lot of my songs and if they make it to the radio, I'm going to bank."

"Does this mean you're quitting?" Louis grabs his heart with his hand and pouts, "after all I've done for you?" he mock yells.

"Lou, you know I'd never quit, I just think it'd be good to make music a full-time thing again and I'll have to be traveling to L.A. a lot, too. I don't wanna leave you alone to clean anything. Plus, you shouldn't even be cleaning anymore, man. You've built this great company, time to swap out the blue collar."

Zayn did have a point, and although Louis has taken a major backseat in cleaning, there are still a few places he works on because he doesn't want to let go just yet. He has been working with some legal teams and such (thanks Niall) to trademark their name and look like a real business. They hired a dozen or so more people after the new team needed help and expanded to the tri-state area (and now have seven vans!), which Louis thought was a huge accomplishment. But the team he was working with was thinking bigger and more countrywide.  

The main guy he'd been working with had laid out a two-year and a five-year plan and had promised that by the end of the fifth year, if the trajectory stayed as strong as it was, Louis would be a multi-millionaire before his 30th birthday and with Zayn's cut in the business, he'd be pretty well off too paired with his royalty checks.

It was all very new and exciting and Louis was glad to have people who knew what they were doing working with him. He of course couldn't help but to think that it was all possible because of Harry and the resources that were made available because of him. But, people weren't getting his services because he was dating Harry, many of them didn't even make the connection —they had just been referred by friends...very rich and very famous friends, and Louis couldn't help but to feel proud of himself and proud of what he's created. 

He wanted to succeed on his own terms and by his own means and frankly couldn't believe it was actually happening to him. If these past few months could change his life, he was anticipating what the next year could bring. 

::

Louis was excited with anticipation to Skype with Harry, it had been almost two weeks since he got his tattoos and he had kept very quiet about it until he could reveal them to Harry when they actually had time to talk for more than a handful of minutes.

"Got something to show you," Louis smiles as he brings his foot into view of the camera. "Zayn and I made the ultimate bond a few weeks ago."

"Oh my god, did you sleep with him?" Harry asks horrified and Louis calms him down.

"We got tattoos you idiot," he laughs wiggling his ankle in front of the camera. "Just this little screw and I got a triangle, too. What do you think?"

"Oh my god, Lou! Wow, no I love them, a lot, that's super hot actually," Harry says leaning closer to his computer to look.

"Also..." Louis pulls his hoodie off of his chest and puts his arm into view, "this, too."

"Fuck," Harry gasps, "is it bad this is actually turning me on? Tattoos look so good on you."

"Figured you'd like them, hurt so badly, I don't know how you do it," Louis says moving his arm around more for Harry to see.

"I can't wait to see them...to see you in person," Harry sighs.

"Soon," they say together. 

 

* * *

Month two away from Louis was quickly approaching and Harry was beginning to get a little impatient not seeing him. Although they frequently had Skype dates and phone calls, Harry couldn't help but miss the touch of his skin and the way he smelled...amongst other  _things_ that were obviously missed.

Tour had been insane to say the least and Harry had to be reminded daily of which city they were in (Nashville today). Lily had been thriving on the road, and Harry was forever thankful that he was able to bring her with him. She kept him laughing when he was too exhausted to do anything but stay in their hotel room. The fans had been good to her and never mobbed Lily or said anything mean to her and a few even blocked paps from taking photos of the two of them — Harry rewarded them with an acoustic video of one of his songs.

But the one thing he couldn't protect anyone he loved from were rumors — and there was a new batch every day.

In the past two months Harry has cheated on Louis multiple times (and vise versa), forgotten Lily in another state, made out with a fan on stage, had a drug overdose after being spotted walking out of a hospital (in reality, Lily had a fever that he wanted to get checked out) and his favorite: is secretly engaged to Louis.

Louis seems to be dealing with it all just fine when they talk and they've even started a game and the one with the closest guess of the rumor that day gets a blowie. It was their way of dealing with all of the bullshit that came with Harry's fame and it was fun. Plus, Harry was up by two stories.

"Alright, Niall printed out the headlines today," Harry laughs as he sits in front of his computer's camera and smiles at Louis. His hair is Harry's favorite, all soft and in his face and he's wearing a grey sweatshirt that probably cost him $20 compared to the $450 silk shirt he had on.

"Hit me with em," Louis takes a sip from his Coke can and burps softly and Harry shakes his head.

"Here we go," Harry coughs and looks down at the paper and laughs when he sees them, "which one is the real headline: 'Harry Styles seen sneaking out of a nightclub with a mystery man' or 'Harry Styles' relationship is on the rocks after a huge fight with his lover'?"

"Oh god these are golden, I'm going to say the second one is true because the tabloids really enjoy calling me your lover," Louis laughs at the absurdity of it all. Harry feels so lucky that he found someone who can laugh about all of it, and isn't affected by the media. Something that no one he's dated has really been able to do before, not even the famous people who were in the same industry.

Harry flips the paper over to see the answer, "You are...." he pauses for dramatic effect until Louis starts whining. "Correct!"

Harry watches Louis jump up and do a happy dance and trip over something on the floor and fall to the ground.

"Oh babe, are you alright?" Harry laughs as he tries to make out Louis' figure getting up off of the floor, "do I need to call an ambulance?"

"I'm fine. Pretend you didn't see that." Louis chuckles, "so you're still in the lead then, yeah?" he asks coming back into view of the camera. 

"Yep, I can feel your mouth on me already," Harry smugly smiles. "Can't wait to see you."

"You can't wait to see my dick, you slut," Louis sighs in fake annoyance. "All I'm useful for."

"Oh shut up you know I love you from your head to your toes," Harry counter-argues.

"Yes, but which head my love?"

"Shut up!" Harry laughs and, god he is  _so in love_ with this stupid man.

They spend another hour catching up until Harry notices Louis' eyelids getting heavy and his answers shortening to a few words. They've fallen asleep like this many times before: cuddled in their separate beds, too weak to want to x out of Skype. But it's nice to wake up hours later to the other one still sleeping or to ruffled sheets and the faint sound of a shower. It doesn't beat the real thing though and Harry's chest aches with the distance knowing that even when Louis finally flies out to see him, it'll only be for a short time until the bed's empty again.

"I've been using your jacuzzi by the way," Louis smiles, "it's like my new favorite thing and I'm perpetually pruney because of it."

"You're ridiculous, I've never even used it yet!"

"Not my fault, it's quite lovely, you should test it out some time," Louis' snark is lost in a yawn. "Bed time for me I'm afraid."

"It's okay babe, we'll talk tomorrow and I'll see you in a week...and your family!"

"Oh right, shit, family and stuff, thought you'd forget," Louis jokes as he fixes his pillows behind his head. 

"Never, I can't wait. I love you, text me when you get up please."

"Always do, give Lily a hug and kiss for me. I love you too, night baby."

After a delayed second, Harry watches Louis' lips pout into a kiss and he catches it on his cheek like always and logs off. 

Before he goes off to bed, Harry checks in next door with Sara and Lily and kisses her while she sleeps. Harry's pretty sure he wouldn't have the strength to have this lifestyle if it wasn't for the amazing people in his life who he works so hard for and who keeps him so grounded and adjusted. It could be so easy to forget it all and just live normally, but he's only just gotten started.

The next seven days were going to drag and drag, until the second Louis' plane landed in Dallas. And as luck would have it, their short time together would fly by in an instant so Harry was betting on the long summer nights to carry them and pull through to last.

::

"Daddy! Louis comes today right?" Lily asks excitedly as she hops on the king-sized bed of the suite they're in.

"Yes, love, now get down I don't want you hurting yourself," he says sternly and Lily plops down into the middle of the bed and grabs Sam and whispers to him.

Harry had the next three days off to spend with Louis and his family and then they'd go to his concert in Dallas on the fourth day. He felt like a teenager getting ready to pick Louis up from the airport, his nerves were getting the best of him and his tried on forty different outfit before settling on a white T-shirt, loose jean shorts and a wide hat — it was at least 110 degrees outside and Harry wanted to just sink himself into the pool, but him and Louis could hopefully do that later. 

He packed an overnight bag for himself and waited for the call from the car that was going to pick him up. He kissed Lily and told her he'd see her soon and hugged Sara. Niall devised a great distraction for him and posted some photos to Instagram that would give away Harry's false location. While he was in the car he noticed only a few girls outside of the hotel and there was no one waiting at the airport when they arrived. 

When he saw Louis and an airport employee escorting him out the doors, he wanted nothing more than to jump out of the car, but he that would give them away. So he sat waiting with twitchy fingers until they got closer and the door was opened for Louis and he slid in as the trunk slammed shut.

He didn't want to be dramatic and pounce on Louis like a maniac, but the second his breathed in his familiar scent, he lunged for Louis' face and grabbed it in his hands and kissed him so hard their teeth clanked with a hiss from both their throats.

"I missed you, I missed you, I missed you," Harry pants as he kisses Louis, "fuck I missed you so much babe." Louis softly laughs into his mouth and pulls him closer to him so that Harry's basically in his lap, and god did he miss that. 

"Same, so much, so happy to see you," Louis replies as his hands touch every inch of Harry's body that they can reach. Harry has felt starved of Louis for months and now was just being presented with him after so long, it was taking everything in him not to sink onto the floor of the car, but even Harry had some self control.

They're silent for a bit and just kiss and relearn each other's mouths and tastes. Harry only feels slightly bad that Paul and the driver are a few feet away, but oh well. They don't stop until they're back at the hotel's garage and even then continue kissing until they're being ushered out of the car.

They're surrounded by security in the elevator, but Harry only sees Louis. His hair is a little longer and he's got some stubble, which Harry loves, and his skin is so tan from the summer sun that Harry wants to just kiss every inch.

"I didn't tell Sara we were back yet," Harry whispers into Louis' ear as he keeps his body pressed against Louis' side. The hand on his waist squeezes him when he speaks and Harry feels Louis' thumb dip in the top of his shorts. "Can make it quick so we stay on schedule."

"Yeah," Louis' voice is breathy and quiet and Harry wants to take him right there. Thankfully the elevator dings and Harry drags Louis out of it and thanks the hotel security and hands them a few hundred dollar bills and drags Louis down the hall.

They're one floor lower than where Harry's suite is because he doesn't want to have to be quiet with Lily next door. He slides the key into the door marked 1790 and pulls the handle when the green light blinks.

Louis goes to talk, probably to ask where Harry's stuff is, but Harry quiets him with his tongue in his mouth. "Want you, now," Harry growls as he moves them away from the door and to the bed. They land sloppily on the soft mattress and Harry wastes no time crawling down Louis' body and untying the strings of his black and red joggers.

"I'm all gross from the plane, baby," Louis whines as he lifts his hips for Harry. 

"I don't care at all," Harry replies throwing Louis' shoes and pants on the floor, "God I missed you" he says kissing Louis' hip as he shudders underneath him and threads his fingers through Harry's hair.

Louis is anything but gross to Harry, he's gorgeous and sexy and could be covered in dirt and Harry would still want him. Would still take him down his throat like he's doing now. 

The bed squeaks with Louis' movement as his back arches off of it and Harry tries to still him with one hand even though he wants Louis to go wild being as loud and squirmy as he wants. 

"Har—Harry, fuck...so good," Louis whines as he pulls Harry's hair harder while frantically thrusting his hips up. Harry gags a little, but takes it and lets Louis fuck into his mouth as he widens his mouth and digs his nails into the soft skin of Louis' thighs. 

Tracing a finger up his thigh, Harry add pressure to Louis' hole and Louis bucks up even harder, "Harry...," he groans.

Unfortunately in all of Harry's planning, he'd forgotten any sort of lubricant and he curses himself the second he realized it. He'll just have to give Louis the blowjob of a lifetime to make up for it until they're alone again. 

Louis was already close to coming and Harry knew it as he worked his tongue more. His legs were shaking and he was only moaning nonsensical things in a very high-pitched tone.

"Relax babe, just relax and come for me," Harry murmurs once he's taken his mouth off of Louis. "I missed you so much Lou, god, so fucking gorgeous." he says spreading Louis' apart legs more and pulls his hips down.

"H, no, please I'm so gross, don't," Louis protests as Harry starts kissing where his thigh meets his ass. "baby...please?" 

Harry leans back when Louis pulls his body from Harry and Harry pouts, "okay, okay, just lie back again and I'll finish you," he smiles. 

Louis' coming a few minutes later and Harry has to stop himself from ruining his shorts when Louis lets out a moan he's never heard before. 

And as much as Harry wants to come right now, he'd rather wait until he can be inside Louis, so with all of his strength he swats Louis' fingers away from the front of his shorts and pins them to the bed and kisses him until his phone is ringing with their warning that it's almost time to leave.

* * *

 The ride home isn't too long, but Louis is nervous as ever to introduce everyone. He feels like a tool rolling up to his parents' house in a blacked-out SUV with a superstar on his arm, but such is life. 

Thankfully no one is waiting outside for them and there are no balloons and streamers hung out all over the outside of the house welcoming them — it's something his mom has been known to do. Louis looks at Harry to gauge his reaction to his childhood home and can just make out a faint smile.

He had enough time to shower and change at the hotel with Harry and he felt a little better now that he didn't smell like an airplane. There was clearly nothing to worry about, but Harry was the first person he's ever brought home and it was extremely nerve-wracking.

Louis had already warned his sisters not to freak out when they met Harry and to remove any traces of his face in their room or he would disown them and write them out of his will. 

"Alright, we're here," Louis sighs as he looks from the window to Harry. "Sorry in advanced if this makes you want to breakup with me."

Harry laughs and leans forward to kiss him, "can't get rid of me that easily, love. Let's go in!"

Louis insists that they take their bags themselves and Harry lets Paul and the driver leave and they walk up the brick pathway to the unlocked door.

"Hey!" Louis yells out and a few voices get louder. "We're here."

"Louis' here!" a girl's voice yells from another room and his sister, Charlotte, appears in front of them a moment later. "Hey bro, long time," she smiles as she opens her arms and wraps them around him.

He hasn't realized how long it's been since he was back, but seeing his sister puts it all into perspective for him. "I missed you," he says into her long blonde hair.

"You're here!," another voice enters the room followed by one more "Louis!" and he peels himself off his sister to hug his other one, Felicity, and his mom.

"Dad's in his den, probably didn't hear us," Felicity says once she's hugged Louis.

"Well, in the meantime, um, this is Harry, Harry this is my mom, Jay, and sisters Charlotte and Felicity," Louis says pointing to each of the three women standing in front of them.

Harry smiles wide and says hi to each of them and gives them a hug and Louis holds back a laugh as his sisters both mouth "oh my god!" to him as they hug. 

"Oh!" Harry says reaching around to his bag and bringing out bottle of wine and handing it to Louis' mom, "thanks for hosting me and stuff," he laughs.

"You are too kind, Harry, thank you! Come on in, Louis can bring your bags upstairs and show you around," she says giving him another hug.

"Who's that? Is it my long lost son?" Louis' dad says as he comes into the room with a pair of glasses perched on his head. _Dads_. 

Louis does one more round of introductions before ushering Harry up the stairs and down the hall into his room.

"So this is it, not much, and my mom's redecorated thank god," Louis says placing their bags down against the end of the bed. He quickly looks out the door then pulls Harry into a kiss that's a little too much if anyone was to see.

"Ooh, getting frisky in your room, that's hot," Harry laughs. "Hope all your old boyfriends are jealous."

"I've never brought any of them home, so they should be jealous," Louis admits and the smile on Harry's face is enough to make him want to propose right then and there or something.

When they make it downstairs Louis' family is scattered around the large room: his mom's pouring some wine as his dad sits at the bar and his sisters on one of the brown couches. 

They sit down at the two empty bar stools and Jay gets their drink orders and a moment later slides them two glass bottles of beer.

"I'm so happy you decided to come home, Boo. We missed you so much," she says with a little wetness to her eyes.

"Boo?" Harry asks with a devious smile and Louis groans in embarrassment.

"Mom, please don't call me that anymore," he says guzzling his beer. 

"It's actually Boo Bear," Charlotte says from behind them, "our little Boo Bear is home!" the girls laugh and Louis finds the closest thing to him (a coaster) and chucks it at his sisters. They whine and yell at him and okay, it feels a little good to be home.

* * *

Harry was absolutely in love with Louis' family. They were the nicest, most loving people he's ever met and he knew where Louis got it from. They were genuinely curious about his life and interests and the girls even mentioned they were bummed Lily wasn't with them because they were excited to meet her after everything Louis' told them about her.

Plus, Louis' dad was an amazing cook and Harry thinks he's never had barbecue quite like what he just ate. He learned that his sauce was actually sold in stores around Texas and he had quite the reputation after winning countless awards. Harry joked that he was never leaving and Louis seemed perfectly okay with it. He hoped that this wouldn't be the only time he'd ever get to be around these amazing people.  Even Louis' sisters, who were a little shy at first, opened up more to Harry that night and joked around with him as if they'd known each other for years. He couldn't help but to keep looking over at Louis, Louis with his huge smile and bright, shining eyes that seemed to grin wider than his mouth. 

Harry's chest was swelling bigger and bigger as the night went on and he fell even more in love with Louis and somehow just knew that this was right where he needed to be and that his life, no matter how crazy it was, and how fabricated things could be, this was so real and natural and it gave him so much strength to keep going.

"I'm very proud of my sisters," Louis whispers to Harry while they're all sitting outside around the fire pit drinking and making S'mores. "They're seriously some of your biggest fans," he laughs. "Is that weird?"

"Not at all, it's cute," Harry smiles as he pulls his gooey marshmallow from the fire. "I've never made one of these before."

"What?! How?! You never went to camp?" Louis' shocked voice rings in Harry's ear as he almost tumbles out of their shared chaise.

"Didn't get out much as a kid, there really isn't anywhere to make them," he admits.

All at once, Louis' sisters surround Harry and they're showing him how to do it. Harry doesn't miss the photos Louis is taking and the laughter filling the night as he bites into the melting mess and gets it everywhere.

"Got a little something," Louis says thumbing the corner of Harry's mouth. "Lemme..." the peck of Louis' tongue is quick since they're being watched and that's sort of weird to basically makeout with your boyfriend in front of his family. That doesn't stop Louis from being absolutely filthy as he licks chocolate off of his finger while Harry is watching or bends over right in front of him to add more wood to the fire. He either forgot Harry never got to come earlier, or hasn't forgotten.

And Christ, he should not be thinking about sex right now, so he drinks some more and concentrates on the story Louis' dad is telling them. Judging by the siblings, it's one they've heard many times before.

Louis' sisters head to bed first and then little by little, the two of them are left outside alone with just the crackling of the dying fire.

"Your family is the best, thank you for introducing me to them," Harry says wrapping Louis in his arms and trailing his fingers over Louis' tattoo — he's still in awe at it. 

"I'm glad you like them, I knew they'd love you," Louis smiles all proud-like.

"Can we go fuck now?" Harry laughs as he throws water at the fire from where they lay. "I'm dying here," he says pushing his hips up into Louis' arm that resting across him.

"Oh my gosh, Harry! We cannot have sex in my parents' house, I'll be murdered," Louis retorts.

"But at least you'll die after being fucked, so it's worth it. Don't think I won't call the car to come get us and go to a hotel," Harry fires back.

"Wait, why am I the one being fucked? Why can't I be the one fucking?"

"Because unlike  _someone_ , I didn't come yet today and I want to be in you to do it," Harry growls.

"That was your own decision, sir. Maybe I wanna fuck you tonight instead because you got me all hot and bothered after getting along with my family."

"As long as someone is getting fucked, I frankly do not care," Harry says pressing his lips onto Louis' throat and biting at the skin. 

 

Harry won out and sprawled Louis across his bed, panting and moaning quietly as Harry teased him. He made sure to triple check that he had everything they needed, and good thing too, because it seemed like where they lived, stores were few and far between. It felt so good to have his tongue and fingers back in Louis after so long — he was embarrassed by how much it turned him on. Even though Louis' room was on a different wing of the house, it wasn't big enough to drown out sounds so they had to be quiet. 

"Okay, okay, fuck, get up here," Louis growls as he presses his hips in circles as Harry fingers him. He had just pushed in his third and was marveling at Louis' body when Louis spoke. He ignored him and hummed a "no" and went back to pressing and stretching his fingers in and out.

He wasn't kidding when he told Louis a few months ago that he could do this forever: just open him up and taste him for as long as he lived. It was intoxicating and although he was ready to get inside him, he spent another few minutes stroking him and kissing around his fingers. Only when Louis was a shaking wreck, legs pulsating and hips jerking did he pull out and prepare himself.

"Do you want me to ride you? I know it's your favorite," Louis asks breathlessly.

"Kinda want you on hands and knees this time...if that's okay?" Harry says trailing his hands down Louis' spread thighs. Louis nods and slowly lifts himself off of the bed and turns around onto his knees and spreads his legs open wide. The looks he gives Harry as he turns his head makes Harry moan a stifled grunt and Louis wiggles his ass and laughs.

Harry grabs for his bum first, fisting the skin and working his hands up his lower back as he slides forward and gently places the tip of his cock to Louis. "Been awhile so I'll go slow," he whispers. He folds himself over Louis' back and pushes, grunting with each inch as the heat bubbles up his spine. With one hand loosely around Louis' cock and one on his hip, he starts to move.  

It doesn't take too long for them to realize the bed is going to sell them out and they laugh as they fumble to the floor and resume until Louis complains his knees hurt just when Harry's on the brink of coming. He leans back instead and takes Louis with him so Louis' back is to his chest and let's Louis ride him backwards. 

"Wanna see you and kiss you," Louis pants as he pushes his body up and down, every muscle tight and strong as Harry holds onto him.

"Turn—turn then," Harry grabs the bottle of lube and reapplies it while Louis gets adjusted above him, "love you," he kisses his nose as Louis sinks down and it feels like champagne bubbles are making their way up his belly.

Harry's hands don't leave Louis' thighs and he's pretty sure there will be marks from how hard he's holding them. Just feeling them move with Louis' body is so hot and gets him back to feeling his orgasm approach.

"Come on me, don't hold back," Harry whines as he looks down at Louis' cock then up to his eyes. They're both so sweaty, but Louis looks gorgeous with his red cheeks and wet hair. Harry latches his mouth onto his left collarbone and sucks, causing Louis to moan his name in response.

"Close, so close, feels too good baby," Louis' words makes Harry press his hips up just enough to change his angle inside Louis and it surprises him just enough to catch his breath and make him come all over Harry's stomach. 

"God, I love you," Harry grabs Louis' hips with purpose and fucks him until his "uh—uh—uhs" cease and he's coming hard with teeth sunk into Louis' skin.

If his body is aching he can only imagine how Louis feels right now as they pull apart and grab the nearest piece of fabric to wipe themselves down with. Everything is sticky and sort of gross and there is definitely the scent of sex looming in the room, so Louis climbs over a dresser and opens one of his windows and lets the cooler night air into the room.

"Why is cleaning up so unsexy?" Harry laughs quietly in the bathroom.

"You make everything look sexy," Louis replies as he turns the faucet off. "The way you wipe that come off your stomach...it's got me so turned on." Louis' straight face lasts for all but a second before he busts out laughing too loudly for midnight.

"Shh, shh, they can't catch me like this!" Harry whisper-yells with the cloth to his stomach.

They manage to stay quiet until they get in Louis' room and fix the sheets and settle in. Louis wraps himself around Harry's back and presses his lips into his shoulder blade. Harry sighs and sinks into Louis' body, so happy and content and still so very in love.

 ::

Harry's alone when he wakes up in the morning and checks to see that it's almost 10 am, he was supposed to get Lily an hour ago and is confused as to why Louis didn't wake him. He gets his answer when he's dressed and makes his way downstairs.

Louis and his sisters are sitting on the living room floor with Lily playing with some toys as Charlotte braids her hair. Louis looks up first as the stairs creak and smiles and taps Lily on the shoulder and points.

"Daddy!" She jumps up before Charlotte can secure her hair with a hair tie and runs toward Harry.

"How'd you get here? Did you walk all the way over?" he jokes and kisses her.

"Louis came and got me, we didn't want to wake you up silly Daddy," she giggles into his neck. "We had cereal and muffins, I saved you one."

"Only one?" Harry pouts and kisses her when she says it's his favorite flavor, "you're the best, Lil."

Once she begs to be put down, Harry lets her run back to the girls and walks to the kitchen with Louis. He quickly scorns him and complains that he should have woken him, but his short burst of anger is dissipated with a kiss and his saved muffin.

"No pouting today, big family plans ahead of us Styles," Louis smiles as he steals a bite.  _Family_ , yeah, Harry sort of likes the way that rolls off of Louis' tongue as he continues to tell himself that it's definitely not too early in their relationship to be thinking things like that.

"I love you so much," Harry says picking a blueberry out of his muffin and eating it.

"Me or the muffin?" Louis chuckles, "because they way you're looking at that thing has me worried."

Harry doesn't have time to respond once Jay comes into the room to tell everyone to get ready to go out. 

The Dallas Zoo was on the list today and Harry felt a little bad having an entourage with them — because that screams normal family outing. No one seemed to mind though and Louis squeezed his hand to reassure him of it. It was actually a blessing since the place was packed and they got to cut lines and go behind the scenes and take special passage ways that Charlotte and Felicity thought were so cool. Harry paid for everything despite Jay and Mark's request not to, but he felt like it was only fair since they were letting him stay in their home. Plus, it's not like $3.75 ice cream cones were that much of a splurge. It was really Lily who was making a huge dent in his wallet when she wanted just about every stuffed animal the place sold. Sara was going to kill him when they brought everything home. 

They didn't cause too much of a scene, but Harry felt bad every time he was recognized and stopped for a photo even though security told the fans he couldn't.

"Do you like being famous?" Charlotte asked while they looked at the elephants. "It seems pretty cool."

"It has its perks believe me, but it's not all it's cracked up to be, I can't even go to the zoo like a normal person," Harry says. 

"My brother really likes you ya know? I've never seen him this happy," she says changing the subject. "I'm happy you make him happy and can make everything work given the circumstances." Charlotte hugs Harry and Harry squeezes her back with tears filling his eyes.

"I'm head over heels in love with him, I'd make it work no matter what and for as long as I could," he responds with a sniffle. "I won't break his heart, if that's what you're implying."

Charlotte laughs and pulls away from Harry, "good, or I'd come after you. But really, you guys can never break up."

"What are we having a chit-chat about, eh?" Louis interrupts them with Lily on his shoulders tugging at the hat on his head.

"Nothing," Harry winks at Charlotte and waves to Lily, "you got so tall, Lil! What do you think of the elephants?"

"Big!" she says stretching her arms and the three of them laugh.

As they walk, Harry thinks Maybe he'll buy a little bungalow in Texas or something for them so they always have somewhere to go when Louis wants to see his family. it's almost like New York minus the cold, and there are nicer people, but they're a little conservative, but Louis' family is here and Louis loves them and clearly regrets moving so far away.  And obviously Jay and Mark will want to see their grandchildren—and fuck, Harry is really getting ahead of himself here, he better stop before he turns into a gooey loved-up mess.

 

As Harry scrolls the Internet that night, all he sees are positive things about the two of them and a ton of photos from their day. He wishes no one was there to photograph them, but he also can't help but to smile at how happy they all look. There's one photo in particular of Lily on Louis' shoulders that makes his heart swell a million times its size. For the first time in months he goes on a writing spree that lasts until the early hours of the morning. 

Mark is the first to find him on the living room floor bent over a notebook and one of Marks' guitars.

"You're up early, Harry," Mark says and Harry drops his pen, "oops, did I interrupt you?"

"No, no, sorry, been up all night actually, hope it's okay I'm using this," Harry motions to the guitar. 

"Of course, mostly used for decoration, probably not even in tune," Mark settles at the table with a cup as his coffee brews, "want some?"

"Sure, thank you," Harry coughs and stretches as he stands up. He catches himself in the reflection of the TV and looks like crap after staying up so late.

"You can probably sleep all day today," Mark says like he's reading his mind, "I think Jay wanted to take the girls shopping...if that's okay with you for Lily to go?"

"Yeah, definitely, she's a lot to handle though," Harry warns.

"Clearly Louis didn't tell you how he was as a child," Mark laughs as he gets up to pour them coffee. "He was a nightmare, Harry she can handle it. If y'all ever have kids, well god bless ya if they're anything like him." He hands Harry his cup of coffee and grabs milk and sugar. "Even if you're not thinking about it, you have mine and Jay's blessing already."

Harry tries not to tear up, because hello it's 6 am and he just went on a writing binge and his mind is all over the place, so he weakly thanks Mark and pours milk into his mug. He's not sure if that's a sign or what, but he pockets that information for later and gets himself ready for the day.

There was enough coffee left over for Harry to pour Louis a mug and he quietly goes upstairs and into his room with his notebook in hand. He's sound asleep, curled around a pillow with his mouth agape, snoring softly. Harry sets the mug down on his nightstand and creepily stares for a moment until Louis' nose senses the smell of his favorite beverage. Harry chuckles softly and climbs into bed and under the covers so that he can draw circles on Louis' back. His skin jumps at his touch and Harry pecks the warm, exposed skin of his back.

'D'jou leave me lasni—"

"Shh, no, was just downstairs, I have coffee for you babe," Harry whispers. Louis rolls on his back and Harry brushes the hair out of his eyes as he tries to blink them open. Harry can't help but to rub his thumb on Louis' cheekbone and down his jaw then over his chapped lips. 

"Thanks," Louis murmurs, eyes still closed, his body not willing to wake up yet. "Cuddle?" Harry slides down the bed and pulls Louis into him. He falls asleep almost instantly as Louis' breathing and warmth lulls him into relaxation. There's no reason for him to even dream, he's got everything he needs with him under one roof.

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

It was the sound of giggling that brought Harry out of his slumber. He barely remembered falling asleep in the first place, just agreeing to cuddle against Louis and then nothing. He sighed and rolled over, bringing the soft blanket with him as his left hand subtly searched for Louis where he had last been on the bed. 

"What's so funny?" Harry grumbles as he pushes himself closer to Louis. Half of the blanket lay between them and he ungracefully shoves it away to feel the press of Louis' warm skin on his chest.

"Shit, sorry, just watching TV while you slept," Louis whispers. A beep turns the television off and Louis curls back into Harry. "It's about noon, the girls are all gone and my dad's out," Louis says as he rubs Harry's shoulder and arm.

"I'm hungry," is the first thing that comes to Harry's mind as his stomach growls, "breakfast in bed?" he smiles, finally opening his eyes to see Louis looking at him. His hairs all soft and messy from sleep and he just looks absolutely adorable — Harry doesn't want to move an inch from where they are.

"I just told you no one is here and all you can think about is food?" Louis huffs turning his body away from Harry in annoyance. Harry laughs and stretches out his left arm and pulls Louis back toward him so their bodies are flush against each other. "Oh ok, not just thinking about food," Louis laughs as Harry pushes his crotch into him and nuzzles his face into the back of Louis' neck.

Breakfast in bed was good, but the blowjob Harry got after was even better. Louis might disagree since he did cook perfect pancakes that he was extremely proud of — and way more proud of the dick-shaped one he made that Harry tried talking him out of posting on Instagram. 

"Don't go back to New York," Harry hums into Louis' stomach where his head is currently resting. He's playing with the strings on Louis' sweatpants like a kitten and a ball of string, and perfectly content with their position for the rest of the day. He almost forgot that he has a show the next evening and should have spent the day rehearsing. 

"How about you just come home and stop touring?" Louis argues with a playful voice. His hand is in Harry's still wet from the shower hair, tugging as often as Harry brush's the front of Louis' sweatpants with his fingers. "Dick pancakes with syrupy come every day if you do."

"Hmm," Harry kisses Louis' bare skin, "enticing, but I can't." He bites down particularly hard causing Louis to yelp and buck his body up. And of course, the only feasible way to push Louis back into the bed is by grabbing his dick, honestly, Harry had no other choice. 

"You'd also get that dick every day," Louis says with ever shortening breath as Harry's hand tightens.

"You have a very good argument, Tomlinson," Harry says rubbing the fabric. "I quite enjoy it, should probably make the most of it before you leave." 

With that, Harry rolls over Louis' body and looks up at him with his bottom lip between his teeth then looks down to Louis' crotch, kissing the outline of his hardening cock through the grey material. Harry wasn't looking forward to not having Louis every day, hated going the past two months without him, and can't even imagine the next four with him gone.

He took his time teasing Louis, soaking the front of his joggers with his spit as he kissed and stroked Louis through them. There was just something so sexy about seeing him so hard through the fabric, even though he could rip them off in seconds and get him in his mouth.

"H, come on," Louis groans with threaded fingers in hair. Harry ignores him as he usually does, and moves his lips up to the skin just above his waistband — bruising it with marks until Louis is squirming.

"I love when you get like this," Harry whispers. He's let the back of his fingers dig under Louis' sweatpants just enough for him to feel the coarse tuft of hair. "Tell me what you want, yeah?"

* * *

"Jesus Christ, get that out of my hair! What even is that?" Louis yelps as fingers tug every strand of hair on his head.

"It's Barbie hair dye," Lily sing-says as her tiny fingers pull his hair.

"Hope you like pink, Lou," his sisters chime in together and laugh from his other side.

Louis sighs and submits to the onslaught of hair product. He definitely should not have agreed to Lily's doe-eyes as she begged to do his hair, especially when her father's hair was three times as long as his. Harry sat in the corner of the living room laughing every so often at the scene in front of him while he chatted effortlessly and comfortably with Louis' parents.

He was so entranced and just far enough away that he couldn't make out what they were talking about, but the smiling and laughing was enough for Louis not to care. His mom sent him a quick smile before turning her attention back to Harry. She placed her hand on top of his where it sat on the arm rest and leaned in. Louis immediately sees Harry's demeanor go from carefree to tense and his eyes dropped to his knees just as quickly when he answers her. Harry recovers quickly and plasters on a smile, Louis' probably the only one who noticed the change, but it was enough to concern Louis, especially when he's unsure about what triggered his reaction.

Harry's phone rings almost as it was planned and Louis watches him excuse himself, his long legs stepping over the Barbies and other toys that litter the floor. Louis stretches out his hand just in time to graze Harry's calf as he walks toward the sliding glass door to the patio.

"Girls, can I wash this out now? I'm about done," Louis smiles in Lily's direction. She nods and Louis kisses her on the forehead and gets up and walks to the bathroom — where he definitely does not try and listen to Harry's conversation through the wall.

When he comes back from the bathroom with damp (pink-free) hair, Harry has his shoes on a small duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Gotta go rehearse, they changed the stage around to fit the space," Harry says before Louis can ask, "I can get a hotel by the venue since I won't be done until at least midnight."

Both of Louis' parents speak at once telling him that it's ridiculous and he came come back at any time he wants. They argue for all of two minutes before Harry is defeated and he agrees to come back and thanks them a million times for watching Lily.

Louis watches him bend down to his daughter and speak quietly to her, "behave, Lil okay? If I hear one story of you being a monster, I'll be really sad. I'll see you in the morning." He hugs and kisses her and she pinky promises to be good.

Louis silently follows Harry outside to wait for his car and they sit on one of the three sets of rockers.

"Excited for the show tomorrow?" Louis asks as the chair creaks.

"Definitely, sort of nervous for you to be there though," Harry smiles sheepishly.

"What? Why?" Louis laughs, "Seen you perform before, I'll love you even if you mess up...which you won't."

Harry just shakes his head and tries to get rid of the red that's creeping up his neck, "We'll see," is all he says. They sit together for a little longer, just enjoying each other and the summer air until the sound of tires on gravel pulls Louis' eyes away from Harry. The black SUV is stark against the rest of the land as it comes through a thick cloud of dust and dirt.

"I'll be up when you get back, have fun," Louis says standing as Harry does. He hugs him tightly and kisses him quickly.

Louis was contemplating asking his mom what she was talking about with Harry as he helped her prepare dinner later that night. It was weighing in the back of his mind all day. Even when they were all in the pool playing an intense game of Marco Polo and Louis kept getting caught by a princess floatie-wearing Lily who just happened to _always_ beat everyone.

At least part of the answer came while he set the table, and although he thought he wanted to know, he knew he'd rather hear it from Harry instead of him mom.

"Have you met Harry's parents yet, hon?" she asks as she hands him a stack of plates.

"Uh, no, not yet, been crazy busy," Louis replies as he walks over to the long table and sets the plates down. It was Mom's famous mac and cheese tonight. Louis' favorite that he hasn't had in almost five years, his stomach was growling with anticipation as it all started to come together in the kitchen.

"Hm, okay interesting," she hums by the stove stirring the boiling pot of pasta.

Louis knew his mom's words weren't malicious, but they still stung. Louis knew Harry didn't have the best childhood and from the few times he's gotten Harry to talk about his family, he hasn't really told him a whole lot so he's had to piece the puzzle together himself. It was evident that his dad was completely out of the picture, but he assumed things with his mom and sister were fine. From day one of being a teenager and looking interested in dating, Louis' mom has basically instilled in him to find someone who has a good relationship with their parents, so he knew this was going to come up eventually, he had just hoped that Harry equipped him with more information to defend the situation.

"What makes you say that?" he says as he places a knife and fork by each plate. "I think we were planning to go to his mom's after tour, just been hectic since we started dating."

"His mother _does_ live in New York, I'm surprised you've never met her," she says in a matter-of-fact tone, as if it was common knowledge that his boyfriend's mom has been living in the same state as them this entire time. "He doesn't seem too fond of them," she finishes her thought as she takes the pasta off of the stove.

Louis doesn't answer for a beat, which is enough to interrupt his mom's workflow and conversation, "you didn't know she lived there, did you?" she asks setting the pot down and taking off the frilly pop holders on her hands. Louis puts his ego aside and shakes his head no. He's not sure why tears are welling up under his eyes, but his mom definitely notices as she wraps her small arms around him and rubs his back like he's a child.

"He stopped talking about them maybe a month ago," Louis sighs into his mom's hug, "I never felt the need to ask."

A thunder of stomping and voices shatters their conversation as everyone starts to pile into the kitchen. Felicity's holding Lily's hand with Charlotte right behind them as they head for the fridge.

"Still have another thirty minutes, get out of here," Jay yells with a laugh, "go watch TV, I'll call you all when it's ready."

::

As 1 am draws near, Louis checks his phone with a yawn and rubs his eyes. Since Harry wasn't texting him back, he had to sink to the ultimate low and check the Internet for his boyfriend's supposed whereabouts. According to some Twitter account, with 200k followers, Harry had recently been seen leaving the venue (there was even a blurry photo of a figure that may or may not have been him) and getting into his car. he clicked the screen off and rested his eyes for only a moment.

Not long after, the vibrating phone on Louis' stomach jolted him awake and he scrambled to answer, "hello?" his voice was gruff and he coughs to clear it.

"Hey babe, I'm back, lemme in please?"

"Jus' a sec," Louis yawns crawling out of bed. He goes into the bathroom first and brushes his teeth and fixes his hair then changes into a pair of blue boxer briefs that have little horseshoes on them.

Harry looks far more tired than him when he quietly opens the door and lets him in. He's not sweaty and his hair is a little fluffy which means he must have showered before coming over.

"Missed you," Harry whispers bending down to pull Louis into a kiss. His heart jumps at the press of Harry's lips and his warm hand around the bare skin of his waist.

"You too. Bed?" Louis tries to suppress the yawn, but it escapes. They walk back to Louis' room quietly with fingers tangles together.

Louis watches Harry strip out of the shirt and denim shorts that have been his uniform the past few days.

"Free ballin'?" Louis laughs, "sexy."

Harry chuckles and kicks his clothes to the side of his bag and walks over to the bed. Louis scoots over and lets him under the covers and pulls their bodies together. Harry's nice and warm against his own cool skin and he quickly gets comfortable in their position.

"How was rehearsals?" Louis asks from behind Harry as he uses his thumbs to massage the middle of Harry's back. He's gotten into the habit of doing it before they go to sleep since Harry usually wakes up super-stiff.

"Tiring, but good, this though," Harry grunts pressing his back into Louis' fingers, "feels so good." He wiggles onto his stomach more and Louis laughs and rolls his body over Harry's and sits on his ass.

Louis never thought he was that good at giving massages, but Harry lived for them and it gave Louis an excuse to touch Harry — something he'd never, ever get tired of doing.

"Didn't think to bring your massage oil, I have lube though," Louis laughs pressing his fingers into Harry's shoulders. If a back could be a turn on, Harry's was like the Playboy of backs, it just did something to Louis, all the muscles and the usually tan skin, was enough for him to wake up a little more than he was ten or so minutes ago.

"Don't waste the lube," Harry grunts at their inside joke. One that was made weeks and weeks ago when _someone_ didn't close the top all of the way and watermelon-flavored lube soaked into Louis' sheets. Technically it was Louis' fault since he had the idea to use it to massage Harry, but he's the one who was in charge of closing the bottle.

As he always does when in this position, Louis bounces himself a little on Harry's ass as his hands glide over his skin kneading the area with his knuckles.He planned on doing this for another minute and falling asleep, but his body had other ideas with the looming fact that he'd be leaving Harry in about 36 hours.

"Don't bounce too hard, hurts my dick," Harry grunts.

"S _orry_ ," Louis exaggerates the word with a roll of his hips this time.

"Mmm, that's better," Harry sing-says, flexing his back and wiggling as much as he can with Louis sitting on him. "So relaxing babe, thanks."

"You're welcome," Louis says pressing into him more as he leans over Harry's body and kissing between his shoulders.

"If you wanna fuck, just gotta say so," Harry laughs and Louis feels him push his ass back to send his message across. "Although it is slightly hot to feel you through your underwear, I must admit."

A throaty laughs comes from Louis as he keeps his body draped over Harry. He probably looks ridiculous, but he doesn't really care. Especially not when he can feel Harry spread his legs wider under him. "So you're awake enough to," Louis says pushing his groin harder into Harry's ass, "fuck then?"

"I mean, you're the one humping my ass right now, so what do you think?"

Five minutes later, Louis' face is between Harry's cheeks and Harry's trying his hardest not to wake the entire house as Louis eats him out. This might be the last time Louis has a chance to do it for months, and he's not about to rush it, especially not when the moans and murmurs falling out of Harry's mouth are egging Louis on.

"So good, so good, so good," Harry whines, his squirming is almost getting to be too much and Louis can't keep him still as he licks and presses his wet fingers into him even further.

"Don't come until I'm at least in you, Styles," Louis laughs against his skin. The rutting he's doing against the mattress is hot and all, but he doesn't want Harry to finish when they've only just begun. He's already decided he's going to spend at least another ten minutes doing this and Harry needs to last.

When Harry has begged enough for Louis to feel bad, he rids himself of his underwear and preps his cock as Harry's ass-up on his bed waiting impatiently for him. He leans down once more for good measure and buries his face again, and gives one final lick until Harry's practically squealing for Louis to fuck him.

"Let's try and be quiet," Louis says not only to Harry but himself as he moves in closer to Harry and presses himself against his hole, "love you, sunshine."

Even thought they've fucked a million and one times, Louis is still completely overwhelmed when he enters Harry. The mix of adrenaline and lust is a cocktail he never gets tired of feeling drunk off of.

"Fuck, fuck, yeah, fuck Lou," Harry groans once Louis has some momentum going. "God right there, so good," he yells quietly — if that's such a thing.

"Shh, baby. Sound so good," Louis grunts as he fucks into Harry. He loves hearing how vocal he is, but cannot risk his parents or sisters catching him balls deep inside of Harry — please, God, no he won't relive that teenage nightmare.

Louis grabs Harry's hips and repeatedly pulls them into him as the sweat starts to form on his chest and forehead. Each thrust causes his heart to jump and the lead butterflies in his stomach take flight with every whimper and groan that Harry makes. He feels so lucky to have Harry, and to be the one he chose to be with. It still catches him off guard somehow that out of anyone in the world, Harry chose him. But enough with the sentimental shit, he was going to fuck his boyfriend hard enough that he'd still feel it on stage tomorrow night.

"Being so good for me baby, you feel so good," Louis coos as he thrusts harder and takes a few seconds to stroke Harry's cock. "Can you try and hold off until I can get my mouth on you? Keep the sheets a little cleaner?" Louis asks with a gentle voice.

Harry turns to look at him and nods and Louis wipes his long hair off of his face, "bed's squeaking so loudly," Harry laughs. Louis thumbs across his bottom lip and smiles as he rolls his hips, "fuccck, god, do that again." Louis obliges and rolls his hips, this time slower than before.

"I'm almost there, don't worry about the damn bed," Louis says rolling his eyes.

It was a tad loud, but Louis did not care right now, not when he could feel his orgasm coming. He fucks Harry harder, the sound of Harry's ass slapping against his stomach was almost echoing in the room, and paired with Harry's moaning and the breathy "uh, uh, uh, uh's" leaving both their lips, Louis comes hard and fast.

He wastes no time pulling out and grabbing the towel that he grabbed from the floor and placed at the end of the bed (ten points for preparation) and set it under Harry as he flips him onto his back.

He knows it'll only be a minute or two until Harry is coming, so he savors the few moments he has of Harry's cock in his mouth.

"Lou...fuck, Lou," Harry moans squirming wildly on the bed. He's pulling Louis' hair hard, but Louis' trying to only concentrate on the movement of his tongue and mouth. "Get off, get off," Harry groans with a panicking voice and Louis lifts his mouth off for him just in time to come, some landing on Louis' chin and lower lip.

He never minds swallowing, but Harry always says he feels bad especially when he's like _this_ and seems to endlessly come. Louis' tongue swipes across his lips and licks off what was there and towels off the rest on his face — and Harry's body.

Harry's chest is pounding, rising and falling hard as Louis cleans him up. It takes two or three minutes after that until he flutters his eyes open and murmurs something Louis doesn't quite catch but he's just going to assume it's something like: "You're a sex god extraordinaire."

"Let me wet a towel, you have come coming out of every hole, it's disgusting," Louis pokes at Harry with a laugh.

"I can't move, I think I'm dead," Harry grumbles as he puts his feet flat onto the bed. Louis laughs and leans over his body to kiss him and then leaves to the bathroom.

They clean up and only managed to dirty a small section of Louis' sheets, but he'll get them in the wash tomorrow. It hits Louis when he looks at the time that it's their second to last night together and he pulls Harry as close as possible to him once they're settled.

"I love you, like so much it hurts," Louis says into Harry's neck, "we're not even gone our separate ways and I miss you already."

Harry turns and puts Louis face in his hands, he's smiling with his dopey big eyes and plants a kiss on his nose. "Only be for a little, you can fly out to any show you know? Be one hell of a booty call," he laughs. Louis loves that he can make any situation funny, can always take the pain out of every little thing. He thinks that why Harry's such a good father, too. Him and Lily are so lucky to have Harry. "I love you, too," Harry finishes a second later.

"Hey babe?" Louis whispers maybe thirty minutes after they've said goodnight. He can tell Harry isn't sleeping deeply because he's not snoring.

"Mhm?"

"After this, you being here, I don't need to meet your mom if you don't want me to," Louis whisper thinking back on the conversation he had with his mom.

"I do, just...things are weird right now," he says sleepily. "We had a little bit of a falling out a month ago." He rolls over and puts his face against the column of Louis' throat, and Louis hears him take a deep breath in.

"Why's that?" Louis asks softly. He scoots closer to Harry and bends his face down so that they're nose to nose and he pushes his lips forward for a kiss.

"Money stuff..." Harry pouts. He leans forward to kiss Louis and Louis kisses him back and rubs his arm and fixes the blanket.

"Dream sweet, baby," Louis says when he realizes Harry isn't going to continue. 

Harry is back to sleep in minutes and Louis goes over his words and tries to doze off.


	8. Chapter 8

There is nothing harder than having to say goodbye. Until Louis has to say goodbye to not only a watery-eyed Harry, but a crying Lily, too. Part of Louis wishes he could just drop everything back in New York and go out on the road with them and not do this. But he still had a life there and as much as Harry begged and begged, Louis knew Harry would feel terrible if he actually did throw his life away to go out on the road.

"It's only a few months, we have FaceTime and stuff," Louis coos Lily, "and your daddy gets time off, I'll see you guys so soon." He wipes her bangs off her face and replaces her tears with kisses. Being paternal was honestly not something that came natural to Louis, but being around Lily sort of gave him the baby bug.

"One last hug Lily, Lou can't miss his flight," Harry says grabbing his daughter from Louis' arms. "As much as we'd both like that."

Louis is slightly glad that he was running late and he couldn't spend too much time pouting while saying his goodbyes. It was better to rip the proverbial band-aid off and leave — as much as that sucked.

"I love you, call me when you get home, please," Harry whispers.

"It won't be home until you're back," Louis softly says back, "love you both."

  _ **Two years later**_

"Are you nervous?" Zayn asks Louis from where he's standing behind his friend looking at him through the mirror. "You look like you're about to vomit."

Louis laughs and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. It's a little damp and he does look a little green now that Zayn's mentioned it. But he is also about to walk out on a stage in front of 40,000 people and ask Harry to marry him, so yeah, he's about to vomit.

"Puking might ruin the romantic part a tad," Louis says while a knock echoes on the door.

A moment later, Sara is walking through the door with Lily who's dressed in a gold glittery dress to match her dad's favorite pair of boots that he wears every night on stage. At six, Lily resembles her father more and more and Louis' nerves calm just at the sight of the child.

"It's not Daddy's birthday yet, why are we surprising him?" she asks Louis after he picks her up for a hug. She's far too big to carry around, but that doesn't stop him from ever doing it.

"Well," Louis smiles as he brings them to a couch in the greenroom they're sitting in backstage, "I have something very important to ask your Daddy tonight and I wanted you to be a part of it, Lil." He fixes her lopsided headband and puts a piece of her curly hair behind her left ear. "Lily?"

"Mhm?" she smiles up at Louis with a big grin.

"Would it be alright if I asked your Daddy to marry me?"

The shriek that comes out of the girl's mouth is deafening as she starts jumping on the couch and screaming.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Louis laughs grabbing her so she doesn't fall.

Lily may be young, but she's not dumb and Louis would never let this be something to surprise her with, he always wanted to make sure it was okay with her even though, on more than one occasion, she's slipped and called Louis "Daddy" and Harry had never corrected her. 

They moved in together late last year and Harry said he's never seen Lily so happy to always have another person there to play with. They already felt like such a family and Louis thought it about time they made it official with a wedding. It was also the final thing Louis was hoping would bring Harry and his mother closer together. It absolutely pained Louis to know that even after all this time, they still weren't on the best terms — which also meant Harry drifted from his sister, too. 

But when Louis got in contact with her and asked permission to marry her son, the brightness in her voice was almost blinding. If Louis could do one thing for the rest of his life it would be to bring them closer together if not just for the sake of Lily.

"Time to go," Zayn says once Louis' gone over exactly what Lily needs to do on stage. Louis' heart was in his throat and he was visibly shaking. No amount of hugs and "it's okay's" were going to fix it. 

"The ring!" Louis shouts turning on his heels and frantically running back in the room.

"I got it, I got it," Zayn says reaching into his pocket, "I know you better than to let you keep track of this." he hands the velvet box over and Louis grabs it like a lifeline.

He opens the box just to make sure it's there and to smile at the fact that in mere moments it'll be on Harry's finger — or so he hopes.

A stage hand runs on stage to 'fix a cord' which signals that it's their time. "Ok Lily, you're up," Louis says to the young girl then kisses her head. They watch her run out on stage, screams getting louder, and then Harry turns to see her.

"Lily, love what on earth are you doing out here?" he asks picking her up and the crowd roars. She leans into his ear and whispers her lines, "You have a present for me?" he reiterates her reply.

Louis takes a deep breath as his legs pull him toward the stage. Although they're shaking and he feels like he'll trip at any second, Louis keeps his head held high and a huge smile on his face. As far as Harry is concerned, Louis is on a business trip in L.A. and nowhere near him.

Louis sends a quick wave to a beaming Harry and his small backing band starts playing [a song](https://youtu.be/7L-Rwxoc2jU). Harry looks around confused and mouths "what?!" to Louis.

"What on earth?" Harry says, his words picking up in the mic and carrying around the stadium. He sets Lily down and meets Louis almost in the middle of the stage.

"Hi," Louis laughs grabbing at Harry's hands. "Um, you probably have an idea what's going on, but uh, Harry?" Louis drops his sweaty hands from Harry and takes a step back and digs into the pocket of his blazer and begins to kneel. "Will you marry me?"

Despite not having a mic, Louis' kneeling is enough to get the entire stadium screaming louder than anything Louis' ever heard in his whole life. And he shakily opens the box and looks up to his boyfriend.

It feels like hours before Harry lets out a single word, his eyes wet with tears as he drops to the stage to be face to face with Louis. And even though there are tens of thousands of people staring at them, Louis just sees Harry. His Harry. The awkward boy he met in Central Park. The one whose smile would never quite leave his brain even though he tried so hard. 

"I love you so much Harry and I want us, I want us to be together forever. Please do me the honor? Please be my husband." Louis says between his small sobs. He had a long speech prepared, but the moment he saw Harry, he knew he didn't need to convince him of his love, he could tell him later, when it's just them. He could tell him every day for the rest of their lives how much he loves him.

"Is this really happening?" Harry laughs as he cries, "I love you, yes, of course, yes!" Harry lunges forward and kisses Louis. The screams reminding them both that they're not alone. In fact, there are about 40,010 people in this stadium.

"Look around babe," Louis whispers once he's got the ring securely on Harry's finger and they've stopped kissing and whispering to each other.

Members of both their families have emerged on stage and Harry starts crying harder—especially when Louis watches his eyes fall on his mom. He doesn't let go of his hand as they both stand up from the stage.

"As you may have figured out," Harry directs his words to the crowd after he's hugged everyone on stage, "my boyfriend just fucking proposed to me." He wipes under his eyes and laughs into the mic, "You really got your money's worth tonight New York."

 ::

The new feeling of the metal of Harry's ring against Louis' cock is enough to make him come the second Harry touches him, but he uses everything in him to not unfold right then and there beneath his _fiancé_.

"I love you," Harry purrs against the warm skin of Louis' stomach, "I love you more than anything," he lowers his mouth further down as he strokes Louis.

"More than Lily, eh?" Louis tries to joke but his voice cracks.

"Let's not talk about her while my hand's around your cock, yeah?" Harry says looking up at him and Louis nudges his knee against his arm with a laugh.

Louis opens his legs wider and presses his hips up to match Harry's strokes, faltering when the warm wetness of Harry's mouth replaces his sticky hand. Louis' eyes flutter shut instinctively and he grabs for Harry's hair. He's grown it out so incredibly long and Louis loves to grab fistfuls of it while they're like this, and Harry just groans and groans the harder he pulls.

But for now, he tugs gently as Harry laps around his cock, moving his mouth exactly how he knows Louis loves it, nipping lightly in the spots that drive him mad. He's concentrating so hard on the movement of Harry's mouth that it takes him a moment to register that there's wet fingers tracing down his pelvis and spreading him out more.

Louis shifts around on the bed more, slowly bringing his knees up to give Harry better access, "love my little multi-tasker," he mews then moans when Harry takes him down deep with a hard press of his fingers against his hole. "Fu–Harry."

He planned on being the one to do this to Harry right now, but the second they got to their apartment, Harry was on him faster than he could realize and he kept going on and on about how he wanted to do this for Louis and be  _in_ his  _fiancé_ — Louis wasn't going to say no.

"Feels so good baby, so—shit, so good," Louis groans moving his hips around as Harry presses his fingers in and works his cock with his mouth.

"Flip over," Harry's rough voice comes out seconds after he slowly pulls his mouth and tongue off of Louis and his fingers out of him. 

Louis listens and lies flat on the bed, his body soft and gooey and ready to have whatever Harry wants done, done.

Harry's hands, despite being wet, slide up Louis thighs hard and rough and then to his ass where he squeezes tightly and Louis moans louder.

When Harry guides his tongue against Louis, he sees stars. When his tongue presses against his hole, all the galaxies in the universe collide behind his eyes. When he can feel the roughness of Harry's stubble against his sensitive skin and the lapping of his tongue and pinch of his teeth, the world as he knows it has ceased to move.

Harry takes his time on Louis' body, unravelling him and bringing him  _so_ , _so_ close until Louis stops making any noises at all, that's when Harry knows Louis is at his best. Moments later Harry brings their bodies together, uniting as one, the slow steady push and stretch is felt from his navel before shooting up toward his heart and through his throat until they're both yelling out into the dark room.

Harry's chest is soaking as it sticks to Louis' back and his arms are shaking as Harry moves. Turning his head is almost useless, his eyes can't focus on Harry, but blur as he tries to press their lips together for a moment. Then his body is moving backwards as Harry sits on his heels and pulls Louis close, his hands around his waist guiding him  _up, down, up, down, up—"fuckk Harry."_

"Keep going baby, so good, I love you," Harry whispers. Louis tries to move on his own when Harry lets go of him for a moment. His thighs are strong, but shaking with pleasure as he bounces himself. When Harry's left hand touches him again, his stomach burns with want and need and  _love_.

"I've got you babe, I'm yours," Harry says against Louis' hair as he moves, "all yours."

Louis can't speak, he tries to say something, but all that comes out are squeaks and stutters of incoherent mumbles.

"Feels so good Lou, so close," Harry huffs as he moves his hips with Louis. "Luckiest guy in the world. Marrying you."

And as cheesy and dumb as it is, that's it for Louis. Being reminded that Harry's his forever, that he gets to wake up next to him every single day for the rest of his life and see his smiling face and feel his warm hands in his, the joy and lust come rushing through Louis' body as he hits his orgasm with a scream.

"That's it, yeah—fuck so good," Harry growls as he grabs Louis' hips tightly with one soaked hand and his other and bucks up into him hard. Over and over until he too, is now lost for words as he comes.

Louis slumps back against Harry's chest, his strong body able to hold him without faltering even after using all his energy up. 

Louis' voice is barely a crumbled whisper as he says, "I love you," to Harry, grabbing his right hand and kissing the sweaty palm.

"Forever and always," Harry responds against his shoulder, peppering kisses to the scalding skin. 

Louis' lips form a smile against Harry's hand, "You're my forever and always." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.
> 
> Thank you for reading xo

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading comments are always welcomed : )


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